Through Fox's Eyes
by Dhampir
Summary: Naruto was 'abandoned' at the age of five and only survived because of Kyuubi's instincts. Eight years later, Sasuke stumbles across him and brings him back to Konoha, but will he be able to cope with society after eight years of solitude? AU
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** Inspired by _Through Wolf's Eyes._

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter One_

Hunt. Food. Pause…Sniff, run. Hunt, hunt, hunt. Scent…Find food, must eat. Dark comes, shelter. Home. Hunt. Day is ending, shelter, food—

_Snap._

Pause, sniff, search, run. Food. Need food. Hunt.

_Rustle._

Pause, search, sniff. Sniff, sniff, sniff. Intruder! Run! Hide!

No! Fight. _Mine!_ No, no, no! Intruder stronger, intruder take, kill, hurt. Hide! Hide, hide, hide, run!

""

Sasuke growled as he jumped to the next tree branch. "Damn cat." He muttered. This was the sixth time this week he and his team had been sent out to retrieve the damn cat. His eyes searched the woods and then glanced behind him at the setting sun. He knew the cat couldn't be out this far, he was miles away from Konoha, but he was enjoying the excuse to just search the woods. And the cat went away farther every time he ran…

A flash of movement in the forest caught his attention and he smirked, "Found you." He whispered as he set off to intercept the stupid cat. He darted between the branches and fell towards the forest floor, landing perfectly in an easy crouch. Reaching out, he grabbed at the cat, but was surprised to watch as his cat grew in size and back flipped out his reach. "What the hell?" He muttered as the creature took off once more.

He growled and took off after it. There was no way he was going to let whatever it was get away. He took to the trees again and followed the streak of movement closely, surprised by its speed. _What the hell is that thing?_ He watched as the creature ran towards its home and smirked. There was no way out of the small cave. He landed quietly and began walking towards the cave.

But he was caught off guard as the creature attacked him seconds after he stepped inside the little cave. He just missed being scarred by those sharp nails and was surprised to hear a guttural growl come from the creature and a glint of light off his eyes. Sasuke removed a couple shiruken from his holster and watched for the creature again. He just barely caught the movement from his right and immediately brought his leg out, connecting with the creature's head.

A soft, surprised shriek followed with the creature's body falling to the ground. Sasuke frowned; he hadn't expected to take the creature down that easily even if his foot did completely connect with its head. He carefully approached the fallen creature and nudged it with his foot before dragging it out of the cave to look at it in the falling light.

"It's a…" He whispered as he stared at the young unconscious boy at his feet. Naked, dirty and disheveled, but very obviously a boy. Sasuke knelt down and carefully checked for a pulse, his nose wrinkling at the pungent odor rising off his body. Stale, red blood could be seen on his lips and at the corners of his mouth and his skin was covered in mud and excrement. His long, matted hair was covered in the same things, but Sasuke caught glimpses of blonde underneath the mud.

He knelt down and found a pulse, continuing to stare at the boy. He couldn't understand why a boy would be out here in the first place, let alone covered in extremities, mud and blood. Quickly deciding it best to take the boy with him, he removed his jacket and wrapped him in it before picking him up. He tried to ignore the smell and began his journey back towards his team. He shifted the blonde boy in his arms and was surprised to see just how light he was. Then he remembered his ribs and how they had shown—the boy looked as if he hadn't eaten in days or weeks. A weak whimper came from the boy's lips and Sasuke tightened his grip out him. He knew that he should take the boy in just in case he was an enemy or missing nin, but just looking at the mess he carried told him this boy was neither.

He walked slowly out of the woods to where his team were, still carrying the blonde boy, and sighed. Kakashi and Sakura were standing there with the damn cat, just waiting for him. Sakura squealed and showed him the cat, yelling something about how she found him all on her own and captured the damnable thing.

Kakashi frowned at the form in Sasuke's arms and told Sakura to stay back as he came to examine the find. "What's that?" He asked once he was close enough.

Sasuke shuffled his load and pulled his jacket down some. "Found him in the woods. Don't know who he is." He said stiffly.

The one-eyed ninja looked down and studied the sight before him, taking in everything he saw. The jounin instructor let out a small gasp and muttered something that Sasuke couldn't catch. He then looked back up at him, his headband covering his one eye. "Where exactly did you find him?" He demanded.

"Near a cave, a couple miles south of here." Sasuke answered, not showing his curiosity at Kakashi's behavior. The usually laidback and perverted teacher had suddenly turned serious and business like.

"It's impossible." He muttered and shook his head. He looked at Sasuke again, "Give him to me. We need to take him to Hokage-sama before he awakens. You and Sakura take back that cat." Kakashi ordered and taking the blonde boy in his arms took off across the rooftops towards the Hokage's office. The two Anbu posted outside of his door looked curiously at him, but let him pass, opening the doors for him.

"Kakashi?" Hokage asked from over his desk, staring at the silver haired jounin. "What is it?"

"I think you need to look at this boy. Sasuke found him…" He placed the boy on the couch and stood back as the old Hokage slowly assessed the prone figure.

"It's impossible…" The old man whispered, "Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Hai. Blonde hair," he said, point to the tufts of blonde not covered in mud, "elongated canines, you can see the three whisker marks on each cheek and just looking at him shows he's been living on his own." Kakashi answered.

"He's been missing for eight years. How could he possibly have survived?" Hokage murmured aloud and touched the boy's cheek gingerly, wiping a bit of mud off his cheek. He'd be needing new furniture now, but if this was truly Naruto, it was worth it.

Blue eyes snapped open at the touch and stared up at the two people hovering over him. He immediately lashed out and scrambled off the couch, dropping into a well protected crouch. One lip quivered, baring a canine, as his eyes stayed focused on the two men.

"I think we have our answer. Kyuubi's instincts must've taken over." Kakashi whispered, watching the blonde back up and take in his surroundings.

"The real question is has _Kyuubi_ taken over?"

"Hai…"

The blonde boy carefully stood up and began pacing the room, looking for the way out while also watching every move the two creatures made. Circling around, he concluded that the small opening to his left was the only way in or out of the den. He approached the opening, still watching the two, and froze once he reached the window, his eyes growing large. There were so many dens and he could see small creatures crawling around on the ground between the stone caves. He gave the air a hesitant sniff and wrinkled his nose at the disdainful scent of pollution in the air.

"Naruto?" The Hokage asked, but the blonde ignored him. Slowly, he walked towards the young boy and reached a hand out, but quickly retracted it when Naruto's reflexes suddenly struck out at him, swiping at his chest with his claws.

He growled and jumped onto the edge of the entrance, still watching the two men. He glanced outside and then at them before disappearing out of the room.

Sandaime rushed to the window and looked out, seeing the blonde boy land deftly on his feet and disappear into the city. "Retrieve him now!" He ordered and watched as six Anbu took off after the quick blonde who had just slipped out the window. The old Hokage sighed and sat down on the chair behind his desk. "So he's alive…"

"Hai Hokage-sama." Kakashi said, crossing his arms. "The son of the Fourth lost to us eight years ago is being returned…but he doesn't seem to recognize anything…not even us."

"He's been alone for eight years, we don't even know if he's sane." He whispered as he looked out the window.

"I assume we'll have to speak with Sasuke, he's the one who found him." Kakashi sighed, just more work for him.

"We will have to, but first we have to apprehend Naruto…again."

""

_RUN!_ Naruto's mind screamed, dodging between the pathways and strange creatures all around him. He was scared, outnumbered and he couldn't smell right here, there was something in the air that was throwing off his sense of smell. These creatures looked like him, they had hands like him, walked on two legs like him and there were hundreds of them, but they spoke a weird language he couldn't understand and their bodies differed. The first one he had seen had a body of blue and white and it's skin seemed to be falling off…the second and third one he had seen had also differed, the silver one's body was black and gray and he only had one eye, a deformity covered where his other eye should've been, and the other creature had many loose layers of skin in bright yellow and even it's face was loose!

He had to get away, there were so many of them, everywhere he turned one of those creatures was there and there were so many dens he was lost. He yowled as six black figures dropped out of the sky around him, driving him left into a small path between dens. He spit at them, growling, his lip quivering in a snarl and watched their every move, claws ready to attack.

He glanced behind him and saw he was getting backed into a corner. He growled deep in his throat before jumping to the left, his nails gripping into the brick wall, and launching at the next wall. He quickly climbed up the den walls and clambered onto the roof, taking off across them with the speed and grace of a fox, sliding and jumping his way across. Yet the black creatures were just behind him and quickly catching up, he growled in annoyance and slid off the rooftop, dropping on all fours to the ground below.

Creatures gasped and moved away from him quickly, he growled and ran through the crowd of creatures blindly, clawing and spitting at anyone who was in his way. He sniffed the air, wrinkling his nose at the scent of fire and tried to move away from the fire. Fire was bad…it hurt, burned…Naruto froze. He spun around, sniffing the air, but the smoke smell was heavy in the air and all around him. He began to panic and darted off blindly down another pathway, hiding in the corner behind some crates and watching as the black creatures came closer to him.

One grabbed him and began saying something to him, but he couldn't understand and clawed at the creature to let him go. The creature shouted and dropped him when his claws connected with his arm and Naruto didn't waste the chance to dart between the black creatures and back into the street, yet he skidded to a halt as he looked up into the black eyes of the first creature.

""

Sasuke huffed, the naked blonde boy hadn't left his thoughts for a second since he had handed him over to Kakashi. His sensei had just acted too differently for him to dismiss it as he usually would have and he wanted to know what was going on with the blonde boy.

After returning the cat to his owner with Sakura, he immediately left, not even answering Sakura's pleas to go out to lunch with her. He wandered around aimlessly for a while before arriving in town, knowing he was heading towards the Hokage to ask him what became of the blonde boy. Regardless of him being 12, he was the head of the Uchiha clan and that gave him special privileges, such as requesting an unscheduled meeting with the Hokage.

A squeak coming from his left alerted him to the approaching figure and he turned to see muddy blonde hair, whisker marks and vibrant blue eyes skidding to a halt before him. He stared down at the same naked boy he had just been thinking about, frowning. _Wasn't he supposed to be with Hokage-sama?_ He saw the quickly approaching Anbu and reacted before the blonde snapped out of his shock, grabbing him around the waist and holding his back against his chest.

The boy snarled angrily and tore at his arms, kicking out with his feet, but Sasuke refused to drop the struggling boy, holding him until an Anbu was able to place a Sleep Jutsu on him. Sasuke watched as the blonde's body fell limp in his arms and quickly knelt down so he could pick him back up properly this time.

"If you don't mind, I'll take him back." Sasuke said to the Anbu. "I have business with the Hokage anyway."

The six looked at each other once before the hawk masked ninja nodded. "You may take him."

Together with the six Anbu, Sasuke entered the Hokage's office and looked at his sensei and then the Third Hokage. Bowing to the Hokage, he tilted his head as to where to put the boy and then placed him on the couch at the Sandaime's gesture.

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at his young student, his eye crinkling with amusement as he said, "You found him again Sasuke?"

He narrowed his eyes at the teasing tone in his sensei's voice. "The dobe almost ran into me, I stopped him."

"He's quite fast Hokage-sama, he'd make a great messenger." One of the Anbu said, "He had us running, that's for certain!"

Sandaime gave a small smile and approached the sleeping blonde, looking down at him with a mixture of awe and happiness. "Welcome home, Uzumaki Naruto."

I know this is short, but I wanted to know what people thought about this before continuing because I already have three other stories going on at once, but this just came to me so I decided to try it out.  
-Dhampir


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note: **Inspired by_ Through Wolf's Eyes_

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Two_

_Danger..._

Naruto opened his eyes and slowly sat up. He froze, the odd creatures hadn't been a dream…he thought these creatures were always dreams, but this time they were not. He brought his legs underneath him and crouched low, watching every one of them. His eyes focused on the hole in the wall that he had jumped out earlier and then back to the creatures. Blue eyes scanned over all of them, there were more of them this time, and finally stopped on the dark haired one.

Slowly standing up, Naruto approached the pale creature and stared closely at him, trying to understand it. He peered into the black eyes and sniffed at him, surprised he had the same smell as himself yet different. He growled at the creature, but it didn't respond. He reached out, carefully touching its face, and trailed a claw down his cheek before doing the same to his own.

He didn't like this creature, whatever it was and suddenly lashed out at it. Yet the creature was quicker than it seemed and jumped out of the way of his claws. He snarled and leapt after it, slashing and kicking at it, but the creature kept avoiding him. Suddenly the creature lashed out at him with some kind of metal claw. Naruto snarled and leapt backwards, landing on all fours and staring up at the creature, he growled and spit at the creature, but it did no good.

Naruto glanced at the other creatures and dashed for the entrance once again, but let out a pain filled yell when someone grabbed his hair and pulled him away from it. Gritting his teeth, he dug his feet into the floor and pulled forward as fast as he could to break out of the creature's grip, but when he turned to the entrance again, he found one of the black creatures blocking it. Snarling, he whirled around and stalked for another entrance, even though he already knew there was none, but all fox dens had a secret entrance, no fox would only have one!

Yet he found none and so, he turned his attention back to the black creature standing before the entrance and growled deeply. Yet before he could even move towards the creature, another grabbed him by the shoulder and kneed him in the stomach, causing him to yelp and fall to his knees.

The yellow creature shouted angrily and tried to approach him, but Naruto immediately jumped away, his lips quivering in a snarl. What did these creatures want? Why were they keeping him here? He yowled and crept back onto the couch, staring at the creatures around him. He didn't like this, he didn't want to be here, he wanted to back to his forest, he needed to hunt and find shelter for the night.

Everyone watched as the blonde haired boy slowly woke up, wondering what he would do once the sleeping jutsu was removed. Blue eyes snapped open and looked around the room warily before finally settling on Sasuke. The naked boy stood up and approached him, staring at him just centimeters from his face and then touching his face curiously.

Sasuke frowned, looking to the Hokage for what he should do, but he wasn't given the chance as the boy suddenly lashed out at him. He immediately grabbed a kunai from his holster, dodging the boy's attacks with confusion. One minute the feral boy was just sitting there, doing nothing except looking, and then suddenly he attacks! Sasuke kept dodging his attacks until he got annoyed with the blonde boy and swiped at the boy with his kunai. The boy leapt away, snarling at him, and then dashed for the window.

Sasuke watched with the others as the boy was intercepted by an Anbu wearing an elephant mask and dragged away from the window. He watched as the blonde boy—Naruto the Sandaime had said—dug his feet into the group and jerked forward, the slick mud and excrement allowing him to break free of the Anbu's hold . He raced for the window again, but was stopped when the Hawk Anbu stepped in front of it.

Crossing his arms, the Anbu stared down at the feral child as he snarled and backed away, his movements jerky and hurried as he searched the rest of the room. While it was obvious the boy was looking for another exit, he didn't once try to open the door or even approach it, instead he seemed oblivious to it.

Another growl escaped the feral child's throat, those blue eyes focused upon him and he slightly crouched as if readying to charge. His teammate, sensing the same thing, quickly intercepted and grabbed the boy by the shoulder and harshly jerked his knee into the boy's stomach.

"Enough! I said to retain him, not terrorize him!" The Sandaime said harshly as Naruto knelt on the floor, clutching his stomach. The Anbu bowed and stepped away with an utterance of apology that was obviously false. Slowly, he tried to approach Naruto, but the boy leapt away and crawled back onto the couch to watch them with hooded eyes.

"Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked, watching warily as the boy huddled against the couch yet in a stance that made it possible for him to attack or leap away at any point.

"You," Sandaime said, pointing to one of the Anbu, "get some food…preferably raw meat."

"Hai Hokage-sama." The Anbu bowed and then disappeared out the door.

Naruto, seeing this, immediately headed towards the door, his eyes large with wonder, but no matter how he hit, scratched or pulled at the door, it wouldn't open for him. Growling, he slumped back over to the couch and sulked in the corner.

"Can't we clean him up?" Sasuke groused, annoyed at his dirtied clothes, the stench filling the room and with his unanswered, unasked questions.

"Iie, Sasuke-kun." The Sandaime said, "He's been removed from everything familiar with him and has gone through enough trauma, removing his…covering would only make him more volatile. Scavenger and hunting animals usually do something like this to mask their scent and to throw off their prey, most likely he was hunting when you came upon him."

The door opened once again and the Anbu set the plate of raw meat on the Hokage's desk at his gesture. "Hokage-sama." He said, bowing once again and then quickly stepping away to keep clear of the feral boy still hunched on the couch.

For a few minutes, the Sandaime did nothing, but watch as Naruto sniffed the air and zeroed in on the meat sitting on his desk. The boy shifted on the couch, but didn't come closer for the food, instead he seemed to be calculating something as he looked from the meat to the Hokage and then back. Picking up the plate, he slowly approached Naruto and showed him the meat in his hand, but Naruto refused to take it from his hands, growling when he tried to move closer.

Taking a step back, the Sandaime laid it down on the ground carefully next to the couch and retreated a couple feet, watching for Naruto's reaction. The blonde quickly snatched the meat from the ground and grabbed the raw meat and devoured it, oblivious to the disgusted stares of the other people in the room. He sniffed the air and glared at Sandaime who was holding the other slices of meat. He growled at him and continued to glare until the Hokage laid down another piece of meat, but this time Naruto would have to approach him.

With surprising speed, Naruto darted off the couch to where Sandaime had laid the meat and back to his safeguard in seconds, the meat gone soon after that. He growled again and this time Sandaime held out the meat, waiting for Naruto to come to him once more, but Naruto stared at his hand disdainfully. There was no way he was going over there.

"Come on little one," Sandaime coaxed, taking a step towards him, but refusing to go any further. "I know you're hungry…do you want this?" He held up the meat and Naruto's fixated gaze followed it.

Sasuke didn't say a word, remaining stoic and cold, as he watched the Hokage try to coax the blonde boy into coming closer to him. It was a waste of time, the boy was obviously deranged and beyond help, it would be better just to kill the poor creature and let everyone get on with their lives.

Naruto eyed the meat…it was good, he wanted more and he didn't have to work for this meat. Yet the yellow creature refused to come any closer and he refused to move from his perch. He knew not to trust the thing in front of him, but scouting the area, he saw no other alternative. There was no other way out except through the entrance to his right, though he had seen one of the black creatures leave through the wall…but he didn't understand how that worked.

He heard a small sigh and his eyes immediately locked on the pale creature again. He snarled at him, challenging him, but the pale creature ignored him. Growling, he issued a challenge again, but again, he received no answer. Eyes narrowing, he jumped down from his perch to study the thing once more. This one didn't look as strong as him and yet it was this one who had beaten him twice. He did not want to defer to the stronger creature but the odd thing wouldn't engage in a rustle with him to determine the stronger of the two.

Naruto looked at the other creatures, they were all watching the two of them with soft eyes, nothing malicious in them like…He snarled, he hated those dreams, he did not understand them and they always left him shuddering afterwards. Now he had finally found another creature that looked like him and these ones did not speak!

The pale creature looked down at him as Naruto got in his face once more, trying to understand this…thing before him. He gave his fur a tentative sniff before taking some in his fingers and pulling on it. He was amused when the creature snarled at him and ripped his fur away from his fingertips. So the creature could speak his language! Naruto growled low and waited for an affirmative answer, but it never came.

He frowned, giving a small yowl, but again the creature refused to respond. He bit his lip, a habit he did not understand, and then tackled the pale thing to the ground, pinning him down. The creature struggled, but a sharp nip and reprimanding growl from him made the creature just look up at him. He turned his head to see four of the black creatures running towards him, but the yellow one stopped them with a sharp sound.

Naruto returned to studying the creature beneath him, staring into his eyes hard as he sniffed at the thing. He couldn't understand…these creatures smelled almost just like him and yet they did not speak the same language. He slowly brought a hand up and traced every inch of the creature's face, frowning down as he recognized the structure as his own. He then looked down at odd skin, touching it carefully and was surprised to find it soft and smooth, moving beneath his fingers. Yet as it moved away to show pale skin beneath it, he hissed and jumped away in disgust. What type of creature has movable skin?

He made sure not to move too far away and watched as the creature hesitantly sat up, black eyes watching Naruto with chilling indifference. Yet the creature didn't continue to stand, it stayed crouched on the ground beside him. Taking this as an acceptance of challenge, Naruto suddenly launched himself at the creature, ready to prove he was the stronger of the two and successfully knocked the pale thing to the ground once more. He straddled his waist and growled menacingly; nipping at his exposed neck to show he was stronger, but the creature suddenly flipped them over and pinned down his arms and legs.

Naruto growled and tried to bite at the creature's arms, bucking his hips to throw it off, but the creature held fast. Minutes passed as Naruto struggled and the creature continued to hold him steadfast. When the struggling finally ceased, their eyes locked and some kind of silent war passed between them. It was Naruto who finally looked away first and his body just sagged as he gave in. This creature was stronger than him and he had to show him the proper reverence shown towards such creatures.

Sasuke stared down into the bright blue eyes and ignored the small growls he could hear coming from the boy's throat. He watched as the rivalry between them passed through his eyes and then just as quickly it disappeared and the boy looked away. Slowly he moved off the boy, but Sasuke remained ready to defend in case Naruto attacked again.

Naruto climbed to his feet and looked at Sasuke again before dropping into a crouch beside him, looking none too happy about it. When Sasuke tried to move away, the boy followed, and when Kakashi tried to approach them, Naruto tried to attack him, protecting Sasuke.

Sandaime sighed, "Stay away from them. Naruto has decided Sasuke is his leader in a way and he'll protect him no matter what…"

Sasuke growled, "I don't want him following me around!"

"Unfortunately you have no choice. You have proven to be stronger than him and so therefore he will follow you and only you." Sitting down at his desk, the Sandaime pulled out a piece of parchment and began to write a decree regarding the blonde boy. "Kakashi-san, I know that you…recently lost a team member and while I'm sure you all are still recovering from her death, this is a matter of great urgency."

"As always, we are at your service, Hokage-sama," Kakashi answered, tilting his head towards the elder, "but what exactly is it you are requesting?"

"I'm putting Naruto in your charge." The Hokage said, glancing briefly at the two boys standing nearby. "Because the boy will not leave Sasuke-san's side, he'll have to live at the Uchiha mansion with you and Kakashi-san, you will live there as well until we're certain of the boy's…stability."

"He's unstable." Sasuke answered flatly, glaring at the grimy child who refused to leave his side.

"That is to be seen." He answered, placing his seal upon the parchment. "Because of the…delicacy of this assignment, I am listing it as a B-Rank mission to which you two are assigned until further notice. I expect you to teach him the language as well as how to dress, act and the ways of our village. You, Sasuke," he said, handing the Uchiha the parchment stating the blonde was now under his care, much to the young genin's annoyance, "are now his caretaker, and you, Kakashi, are now in charge of both of them."

Kakashi smiled, "Of course!" Turning to Sasuke, he asked, "When should I move my stuff in?"

Sasuke was fuming inside. This was ridiculous; he now had a wild, deranged, naked boy living in his house along with his perverted, also deranged in his opinion, sensei who was now moving his belongings into a guest room.

Sasuke was leaning against the wall, his mask of on his face with flickers of annoyance filtering through, his arms crossed and his head bent down glaring at the naked boy sitting next to him. "Dobe." He muttered before walking into his room, Naruto just on his heels. He turned around and stared at the naked boy stinking up his room with excrement and leaving trails of mud and who knows what else throughout his house. "Bath." He growled, pointing into the room connected to his.

Naruto just continued to stare at him. Sasuke sighed in annoyance and stormed towards the room, Naruto following closely behind him. Once the naked boy was inside, he closed and locked the door and then shoved him into the shower. He turned on the water and closed the shower door, locking the blonde inside.

Naruto looked at the small space, feeling safe for the first time. This was almost like his den in the woods and he liked it…until it began raining. He yowled, turning around and seeing no way out as the rain continued to fall from the ceiling. He didn't like this anymore! What kind of creature would want to live in a leaky den? Didn't they get flooded and cold?

He still had to hunt too! He couldn't let his covering slip off or the prey would scent him and then he'd starve. Naruto looked around and saw a small opening at the top, just large enough for him to slide out. He didn't even think as he jumped for it, his claws grabbing the top, and climbed out, dropping to the hard ground a wet, slimy mess. He looked up at the pale creature and was surprised to see him mad…Naruto crouched low, trying to understand what the creature wanted.

Then he was being hauled up and thrown into a small puddle that was somehow still deep. He cried out in surprise and began flailing his arms around, trying to climb out of the water, but the pale creature held him still, dunking him underneath the water and then pulling him up just to dunk him again. He took gasping breaths every time he was let and let out a pitiful whine that he was upset.

He finally stopped flailing around and let the creature do what he wanted, still yowling and shaking his head.

Sasuke growled, he was completely soaked now and the stupid boy kept trying to climb out of the damn tub. He'd grab onto the sides and try to pull himself out, but he kept dunking the blonde boy each time. "This is ridiculous." He muttered as he pushed the boy underneath the water again, trying to get rid of the horrible smell. "Why'd he cover himself in shit anyways? Wouldn't a roll in the dirt and twigs cover his scent enough?"

The boy finally calmed down and Sasuke stopped dunking him, grabbing a bottle of shampoo off the side of the tub. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at having to touch that matted blonde hair, but he was more determined to have his house smelling nice and staying clean than having to touch the blonde. He poured a generous amount onto his hands and attacked the blonde matted hair, scrubbing and pulling at it, not wanting to know what exactly was in that hair.

He then dunked the blonde again and got ready to scrub at the hair again, but Naruto tried to launch himself out of the tub again. Sasuke grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back down, but at the last second, Naruto grabbed him as well and dragged him in.

Sasuke gasped in surprise as he surfaced for air, the blonde still clinging to him, "Dobe!" He growled lowly and Naruto shrunk back in surprise. He looked down at his soaked clothes and glared at the naked blonde. Grabbing a bar of soap he set to scrubbing the blonde clean of any dirt and excrement, trying not to think of what he was now sitting in.

Naruto continued to move back, trying to get away from the soap and Sasuke finally got annoyed enough that he pinned Naruto against the back of the tub and began scrubbing at his skin, lathering it up with as much soap as possible. He set the soap on the side again and grabbed a washcloth, using it to remove the caked shit from Naruto's skin. Tanned skin came into view as Sasuke washed away the grime and soon most of it was removed.

Sasuke was surprised to see Naruto did have muscle after all…he had thought the blonde boy was just skin and bones, but as he moved down to scrub at his arms and legs he saw the toned muscle beneath the tanned skin. He looked up at Naruto's miserable face and grabbed the shampoo again, it still wasn't clean…he didn't think the blonde would be clean until he took four baths a day for a month.

Naruto, now understanding what that bottle meant, hissed, but didn't lash out as Sasuke began scrubbing at his hair once more, trying to remove the knots and twigs stuck there. Looking down at the brown water in disgust and quickly stepped out, dragging the blonde with him and pushed them both back into the shower. He turned it on and held Naruto fast as the water began falling down on them in a heavy spray.

He yowled and tried to jump onto the top again, but Sasuke refused to let him leave. He kept washing his hair until all the shampoo was gone and then grabbed his bottle of conditioner he kept in the shower. He used a generous amount to lather his hair and then pushed him under the stream of water again until it was washed of it. He then turned the blonde around, looking for more of the caked mess and then giving him one more good cleaning before turning off the water.

"Come on dobe." He muttered, pulling the shivering blonde out of the shower and turning around to grab a couple towels. Yet just as he turned around, Naruto shook his body vigorously, trying to get rid of the water and began rubbing against the ground. "Hey! Stop that!" Sasuke yelled, throwing at towel at the blonde. Naruto stopped at the sharp reprimand and looked at the cloth in confusion, staring up at Sasuke for directions.

Sasuke sighed, and began drying his body, clothes and hair, watching as the boy slowly began mimicking his movements, his face frowning with confusion and concentration. As soon as they were both mostly dry, Sasuke led the blonde back into his bedroom, sitting the blonde on the bed and then walking to his dresser to find some clothes for him and the boy.

He began removing his shirt, but stopped when Naruto gasped and let out a whimper. He turned around to see Naruto eying his shirt and then his chest. "What?" He asked, pulling the shirt all the way off and dropping it to the ground. He then removed his shorts and boxers while the blonde continued to whimper as if he was in pain. He quickly dressed again and then turned to the blonde now staring wide eyed at him in shock.

Sasuke frowned; all he did was change clothes. He walked towards Naruto and held out the clothes for him, but Naruto shook his head, refusing. Sasuke growled, he was not going to go through this…but when Naruto refused again, he sighed, trying to quell his anger and took the shirt in his hands. Before Naruto could do anything, he slipped it over his head and pulled his arms through.

Naruto gasped and jumped away, scratching at the shirt and looking around wild eyed. He kept pulling on it, but it wouldn't come off and he finally looked at Sasuke, trying to understand. Sasuke held up the lounge pants and slowly approached the upset blonde, still uncertain of what was wrong.

When Naruto didn't move away, he took a foot in one hand and began pulling lounge pants up while Naruto continued to watch him with increasing panic. He finally pulled them all the way on and stepped back as the blonde curled up on his bed and began whining.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sasuke finally yelled, "Something's wrong with him!"

The silver haired ninja appeared in seconds and looked at the shaking boy. He slowly approached Naruto and sat down on the edge of the bed, "Naruto?" He asked in a hushed voice. The blonde didn't move and Kakashi sighed. "What exactly happened?" He asked Sasuke as he reached out to pet the blonde locks.

Sasuke shrugged, "I gave him a bath and put clothes on him, then the dobe just started whining like this."

"You didn't molest him." Kakashi grinned, making Sasuke huff in annoyance, "It was after you put the clothes on?"

"Hai."

"Ah…" he nodded, "It's the clothes…he's never seen any before or at least not in years and he's scared by them."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow.

"He probably thinks it's our skin and we just put it on him." Kakashi explained, continuing to pet the blonde until he calmed down some. Blue eyes finally looked up at him and the blonde came towards him, sniffing him curiously. He then turned to Sasuke, asking silently if the silver ninja could be trusted.

Sasuke stared back at him and then snorted, rolling his eyes. That seemed enough confirmation of Naruto because he then sat down beside Kakashi, copying his posture, dropping both legs off the side of the bed, turning his torso to look at Sasuke and leaning one hand back on the bed to hold his weight. Kakashi couldn't help but smile, but Sasuke just scowled at the blonde before turning to his dresser to grab a brush.

He then sat down on the bed and pulled lightly on Naruto's arm. "Sit." He said, pointing to the ground between his feet. Curious, Naruto tried to follow what Sasuke had said and sat facing him, looking up. Sasuke sighed, keeping the annoyance out of his voice as he said, "Turn around." He quickly turned the blonde around so his back was to the bed and Sasuke quickly began brushing at his hair, using a kunai to cut out the matted hair when needed. He worked in silence even as the blonde tried to turn around to see what he was doing and finished an hour later, cutting off most of the blonde hair until Naruto was left with soft, unmated blonde spikes.

Kakashi nodded, "Good job Sasuke!" He smiled and then patted Naruto on the head. "You too Naruto." Blue eyes looked up in confusion, but Kakashi just smiled and then walked away. "Well, I'm going to bed! Have fun Sasuke!"

Sasuke growled, but stood up and began going to another room to put Naruto in. The blonde followed just behind him and Sasuke opened to the doors to the bedroom next to his. He stepped back as Naruto entered it, looking around at the unfurnished room except for a light, a bed and a dresser. He pointed at the bed, "You sleep here." He said, but Naruto kept staring around. Sasuke sighed and steered the blonde to the bed, pulling back the covers and getting Naruto to lie down. He then pulled the covers back up over the blonde and began leaving. Yet he wasn't even to the door, before the blonde boy was beside him again.

He sighed and put the blonde back into the bed. "Stay." He growled and left again. This time he got to his bedroom before Naruto appeared again and once more he put the blonde back into the bed. "Stay!" He ordered and stomped out of the room. He waited a couple minutes before sliding into his bed and trying to sleep. It felt so different to know someone else was in his house—even if it was a deranged dobe and a perverted teacher—and he was surprised to find that he wasn't so sure he hated it.

Dhampir  
Page 6  
2/15/05

Thank you for the reviews and I'll have to answer them next time because right now I'm sick and have to go to the doctor's. They hate me...I am the most seen patient ever...Anyways, I hope some people liked this chapter, my thoughts exactly on it are I hate it, but then that's for most of my chapters.

-Dhampir


	3. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters…except Hikari, but she's dead and doesn't matter.

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Three_

Sasuke awoke the next day and slid out of bed, groaning at the rising sun. The account of yesterday's transpirations came immediately to mind and he groaned again, wondering if Kakashi was up yet or still asleep. At least now he could make certain the lazy jounin was on time…but that also brought up the other addition to his household, the insane blonde haired child called Naruto that he had found in the woods. He sighed at the thought of the blue eyed blonde and stretched, wondering if—and hoping that—the creature had ran away in the middle of the night.

He dressed in his normal outfit of a blue collared shirt and white shorts, strapping his holster to his leg and filling it carefully with kunai and shiruken, and glanced in the mirror once before tying his hiaete in place. He then started towards the door only to stop and stare at Naruto curled up by the door asleep. The blonde haired boy was curled up like a cat, his head hidden in his arms and a serene expression on his face as he slept. The shirt had come off at some point, but his pants had remained on his hips, though low riding, and Sasuke could finally see just how starved the blonde had been.

Every rib could be seen, his waist was so thin that Sasuke was amazed the kid had survived this long, but it didn't change the fact that he was still starved. He let his eyes roam over the tanned body, he did look a lot better not covered in mud and his hair was a brighter shade of blonde than he had first thought, almost the color of the sun, one could say it was sun kissed.

Sasuke knelt down and shook his shoulder. "Oi, wake up dobe." He said, but the blonde just growled and curled up tighter. "Dobe!" He muttered, trying again. This time blue eyes snapped open and the blonde lashed out, catching Sasuke on the arm, and leapt away, placing his back against the door. The blonde growled and looked wild eyed around the room, searching for an exit. He began breathing quicker, his eyes becoming a slight red tint as he looked around the room in panic.

His eyes focused on the window and before Sasuke could even react, the blonde barreled towards it, leaping into it and falling through it. A painful yelp was the last he heard as he fell out of the two story house to the ground.

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as he rushed to the broken window and looked out to see Naruto lying unconscious on the ground, bleeding from his head and chest. "Shit!" He muttered, throwing the window open and leaping down beside the prone boy. He was covered in broken glass and slight cuts, but the main were to his head and chest, both embedded with glass. He carefully picked up the blonde and carried him back to house, only to be locked out. "Damn it! Kakashi-sensei!" He yelled, but of course the silver ninja didn't answer.

He took a breath and jumped up to his roof, walking up to his window and crawling back through, careful to not injure the blonde idiot anymore. He laid him down on the bed and then disappeared into his bathroom, living alone had at least taught him how to tend to his own wounds. He returned and sat down beside the blonde, carefully removing the two largest pieces of glass from his temple and chest. "Fuck!" He swore when the wounds began bleeding profusely. He quickly grabbed a swab and pressed it against the two wounds tightly, blocking the blood flow.

Thoughts of his last teammate Hikari came to mind. He shuddered remembering the mangled body lying in front of him. It had been their first _real_ mission; they were to guard a man from ninjas while taking him back to his village. He didn't remember the man's name, but he was a bridge builder and on the way they met up with a formidable missing nin named Zabuza and his assistant Haku.

They had fought on the bridge against them, Kakashi against Zabuza, Sakura guarding the bridge builder and he and Hikari fighting against Haku. Hikari was a good ninja, very skilled, but against Haku, she didn't stand a chance. Together they had beaten his ice-mirror jutsu, but Hikari had suffered the most and had died in the end.

Sasuke wasn't able to get to her fast enough when Haku had released his needle jutsu, hitting her near the main arteries. Had she left the needles where they were, she probably would've been alive, but she had ripped them out in haste and nicked the artery. Sasuke could only watch as his teammate died before him seconds before Haku had sacrificed himself to save Zabuza.

He shook off the dark memories and focused on saving the blonde boy lying on his bed bleeding.

Elsewhere in the house, Kakashi was up and about, humming as he went into the kitchen, searching for food. He opened Sasuke's refrigerator and tisked when he saw all the healthy foods. "Sasuke, you need some real food." He muttered, grabbing an apple and closing the fridge. He thought by now Sasuke would be up and warming up or at least eating something, yet he had yet to see the stoic spiky haired boy since last night. _Come to think of it, I haven't seen Naruto either_… He thought, frowning.

He got up and started up the stairs towards Sasuke's room. He doubted the stoic teenager overslept, that wasn't like Sasuke, but maybe something happened between him and Naruto. He didn't even bother to knock on the door, opting instead to just walk in, "Yo!"

Sasuke looked up, his hands bloody and swabs thrown on the ground forgotten, at his sensei. The bleeding was finally beginning to slow, but now the blonde's hair was dyed red and his chest covered with smears of blood.

Kakashi was next to them in seconds, his eye taking in Naruto's present state with sudden seriousness. "What happened?" He asked.

"Dobe jumped through the window." Sasuke muttered, throwing another bloody rag to the ground and grabbing another one. "He had two pieces of glass lodged into his body, one in his temple and one in his chest. The head wound has stopped bleeding, but the chest wound was deeper than I thought and has yet to stop."

"Good thing he has a thick skull." He joked, but Sasuke just glared.

"And where were you?"

"Uh…"

Sasuke snorted, turning back to the blonde, but paused in his ministrations as Naruto began to awaken, his eyes fluttering open. Yet both of them were taken by surprise when a wretched sound came from Naruto as if he was choking and in pain while a red glimmer began to surround the wounds. Sasuke leapt back, taking out a kunai, while Kakashi just watched the two wounds heal as Naruto began to foam at the mouth, his chest heaving as the painful sounds continued to come from his throat.

"What's happening?" Sasuke asked, but Kakashi motioned him silent. Naruto's face contorted with pain, his hands gripping the sheets and his back arching off the bed, and he let out another cry of pain. Sasuke could only stare wide eyed as the blonde struggled and fought against something though he could not tell what while Kakashi just watched him, preparing to slay the boy if Kyuubi broke free.

Suddenly Naruto fell silent, his breathing shallow and slow, his eyes closing once more and his muscles relaxed. Kakashi slowly approached the prone figure, one hand on his holster ready to defend himself and his country if it came to that. He reached out and shook Naruto's shoulder, praying it wouldn't come to killing the boy.

A hand grabbed his wrist and Kakashi looked into deep red blood eyes full of killing intent. Kyuubi growled, showing his elongated canines, and tightened his grip on Kakashi's wrist. Kakashi quickly brought a kunai up, cutting Kyuubi across his arm and effectively making the fox demon drop his wrist. Kyuubi snarled once and shook his head in annoyance, the wound Kakashi gave it already healed.

"Sasuke, stay back." He whispered, withdrawing another kunai and preparing to kill the blonde boy who had been missing for so long. Yet Kyuubi shook his head again, closing his eyes and growling lowly as if arguing. Kakashi took a breath and drew his kunai up for the killing blow, but stopped when vibrant blue eyes looked up at him with curiosity. Naruto cocked his head and stared up at him, uncertain of what the kunai was for.

Sasuke remained silent, but he couldn't believe Kakashi was going to kill the boy. Wasn't the whole point he was here was to help him become…well human? He didn't look like a threat, maybe to himself, but certainly not a threat to anyone else…

The jounin studied the boy before him, eye calculating as he looked for any hint of the Kyuubi, but found none. Kakashi slowly lowered his kunai and stepped away from the blonde boy, letting out a sigh of relief. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, there was something here he didn't know and there was no way in hell he was going to allow some creature to live in his house without knowing everything.

Naruto hopped off the bed, sniffing at his blood curiously, and then walked back over to Sasuke's side, sitting down at his feet. Kakashi put his kunai away and turned to them, smiling once more. "Well, he seems fine now!" He said, "I'll go tell Sakura training is cancelled for the rest of the week. We need to get him used to a couple things before he meets another person." Sasuke was about to protest, but Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke and left the two of them alone.

Naruto hissed at the sudden disappearance and hid behind Sasuke, uncertain of what transpired. He growled in annoyance and slowly moved to sniff around the area Kakashi had just been standing. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of sulfur and smoke, but looked at Sasuke for an explanation.

Sasuke sighed and just walked into the bathroom, dragging the reluctant Naruto behind him. He wasn't about to let him wander around his house covered in blood and he wanted be certain those wounds really were gone. He locked the bathroom door and went to fill the bathtub while Naruto paced the large bathroom, jumping up to perch on the toilet finally. "Oh hell no…" Sasuke muttered, there was no way in hell was going to potty train a teenager. That would just have to be Kakashi's job, he was bathing the damn blonde and that alone was enough to drive him up the wall. He wasn't patient, that was a well known fact by his teammates, and trying to bathe Naruto was like trying to hold onto a fish out of water.

Once the bathtub was full, Sasuke stripped the pants off Naruto and threw him into the tub, ready when Naruto tried to jump out again. The blonde growled at him and he growled back, pushing him firmly back into the water. "Stay." He said, knowing the blonde at least understood that to some context.

Naruto huffed, but stopped struggling and sat with his arms crossed and a cute frown on his face as Sasuke washed the blood off. He fingered where the wounds were, but much to his surprise there wasn't even a mark, almost as if he had never been injured in the first place. Sasuke frowned, but knew the blonde couldn't answer him, so he just continued to wash him. He gave Naruto the washcloth and using his hand, began washing his arms and stomach until the blonde began doing it on his own.

Sasuke leaned back, watching as Naruto wash at his skin, sniffing the water and playing with the soap with amazement. He finally dropped his wet clothes onto the ground and stepped into the shower, taking his morning shower and getting ready for the day taking care of the idiot.

When he stepped back out, Naruto had already climbed out and shook water all over the place as he sat once more perched on top of the toilet. He watched Sasuke curiously as the stoic ninja exited the shower and practically jumped on him to examine his body without clothes. Sasuke roughly pushed him off and threw a towel at him, scowling. He wrapped the towel around his waist and stormed into his bedroom, the blue eyed teen right on his heels. He growled at him, making Naruto back off, and dressed once more in the same outfit.

Naruto frowned again and dropped the towel he had been dragging behind him to pick at Sasuke's clothes curiously. Sasuke smacked his hand away and glared at him, yet the blonde wasn't deterred and pulled down on Sasuke's shirt, trying to understand the clothing.

"Stop." Sasuke finally snapped, throwing a pair of pants at Naruto. The blonde stared at them and then up at Sasuke, trying to understand what they were for again, but not remembering. Sasuke sighed and pushed the blonde onto the ground and taking the pants from Naruto's hands. The blonde glared while Sasuke pulled the pants on and huffed at him in annoyance again. He didn't like this idea of clothing, he never needed it before and he didn't need it now.

Sasuke groaned, three hours ago Naruto had discovered the kitchen meant food and was still looking in the cabinets. He had seen Sasuke open the fridge and also the cabinets and discovered happily how to do it as well. Now his kitchen was a battle zone, food scattered everywhere, cans laying on the ground forgotten while Naruto perched on the counter with a handful of meat in one hand and an apple in the other.

Hokage better compensate him for all this trouble, he may be rich, but he didn't think he could afford the blonde's eating habits. Naruto suddenly stopped eating, looking at Sasuke before hopping down and approaching him, holding out his half eaten apple to the stoic ninja.

"No." Sasuke said with disgust, but Naruto continued to hold the apple out in front of him. He growled at the blonde and pushed his hand away, "No."

Naruto pouted, but offered the meat, trying again. Sasuke took a breath, trying to his temper, and took some of the meat, nodding to Naruto. The blonde brightened and jumped into the chair beside Sasuke, munching happily on his apple again. Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes, the blonde idiot may not be able to speak, but he was hyper and very lively, especially now that he had food. Already, six lamps were broken, there were stains on his carpet and his couch had scratch marks in them. He knew the next thing he was going to do was trim those damn nails, they were ridiculously long, but he wanted his sensei there with him before he attempted that. Speaking of the perverted jounin, he still hadn't returned…

Kakashi entered Sandaime's office, taking a seat before the old Hokage and waited patiently until he finished with the paperwork before him. After an hour of silence, Sandaime finally pushed the stack of papers away and looked at Kakashi. "I'm guessing this is about Naruto?"

"Hai. I have a couple concerns…" Kakashi said, his arms crossed comfortably as he looked at Sandaime levelly. "We had an episode already…He jumped out Sasuke's bedroom window and deeply injured his chest. I was certain we'd have to bring him here, but somehow he healed his wounds, though he sounded like he was in a lot of pain." He paused before going on. "Kyuubi took over Hokage-sama, and he almost attacked me. I injured him again, but the wound disappeared within seconds."

"Have you killed him?" Sandaime asked in a low voice.

"No. Just before I was about to, Naruto came into control again and returned to the mute blonde boy he is. What I don't understand is how Naruto was able to use Kyuubi's chakra in the first place; he shouldn't understand chakra at all."

Sandaime remained silent for a while, contemplating what Kakashi had reported and what this would mean. "You said he sounded as if he was in pain?" Kakashi nodded. "Kyuubi is forcing his chakra through Naruto's body because Naruto doesn't understand how to use chakra…He can't use Kyuubi's chakra, but the fox's host was in danger of bleeding to death or at least it thought so and therefore Kyuubi is forcing his chakra to heal him." He sighed, "It's dangerous to force chakra through a body so malnourished and untrained, but again, this is Kyuubi we are talking about, a creature we cannot completely comprehend."

"Is there a way we can stop Kyuubi from forcing his chakra?"

"Not without crippling Naruto's chakra as well…" Sandaime sighed, "If we did that, he may never be able to use chakra ever and it might never stop Kyuubi from forcing its chakra into its host."

"Then it is painful?"

"Very. If it happens again, bring Naruto to me immediately, we need to be certain nothing inside is being harmed. Yet…Naruto was able to regain control over Kyuubi, so the boy knows about the fox then, or at least subconsciously does." Sandaime stood up, "We'll have to watch him closely and I don't want to think about what will happen once the village and shinobi know he's alive."

Kakashi nodded, he still remembered that night. When news came back that the caravan had been attacked by unknown ninjas and the 'demon child' had been destroyed everyone celebrated. Or at least almost everyone…those who were older and had fought against the fox monster knew what had been sacrificed that night to contain the beast and mourned the loss of Naruto and all others with him.

"For now this remains between us, Sasuke and the six Anbu who were present, understand? This is of the utmost secrecy. I don't want anyone attacking Naruto in the middle of the night, especially with Sasuke mixed into this."

"Speaking of which, Sasuke saw Kyuubi take over and also heal Naruto's wounds and I'm certain he's going to question me when I return."

Sandaime slowly nodded. "Tell him. It is his home after all and he's in the most danger…"

Kakashi nodded and stood, "Hokage-sama." Another nod from Sandaime and Kakashi left, going to stop by the bridge and talk with Sakura about their break… then he'd just go and visit a couple people, maybe pick up a new book, 'train' and then go back to Sasuke's house.

Sasuke shoved Naruto into the living room and sat him down on the couch. "Stay damn it!" He said, pointing at him and then storming back into the kitchen. He pulled out a bucket and sponge and began washing the floor and counters, picking up the salvageable cans and putting them away once more. Almost everything in his refrigerator was lost and now he'd have to go to the store again though he went only days ago. He moved to the table, wiping off the crumbs, water and whatever the hell else was on it off.

He finally got the kitchen in working order again and came into the living room, surprised the blonde hadn't followed him again. He looked over the edge of the couch and stared down at the sleeping teen, curled up again just as before. He smirked, so the blonde hyperactive teen did have a limit it seemed…He was beat as well and settling down on the couch next to Naruto, he closed his eyes and dozed off.

Kakashi entered a couple hours before nightfall, looking at the two sleeping on the couch and smiling. He slowly approached Sasuke, but saw the dark eyes glint in the fading light even before he was feet within range. Just like Sasuke. He nodded to the dark shinobi and motioned for him to follow him.

Sasuke stood, glancing at Naruto, and then followed his sensei into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table. "Tell me." He said coldly, his eyes never leaving his teacher.

"Naruto is the Kyuubi Kitsune, the fox demon from twelve years ago." Kakashi said blandly, taking a seat across from Sasuke.

"He was killed."

"It's a lie." He shrugged.

"Then what happened to him?"

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow, he was taking this a lot better than he had thought, but then, this was the kid who had his family murdered by his own brother and remained alone for years. "Eight years ago, a caravan left with Naruto…it was a select few ninjas who were willing to raise Naruto in a different village, a village who didn't know who or what was locked inside of him." Kakashi looked down at his hands, "Word of the caravan reached the ears of some unknown shinobi—no one knows which village—and they were attacked. Everyone was killed and so we thought Naruto as well…we never found a body of a child, but we believed that they had taken Naruto's body with them for whatever reason…

"When word came back that Naruto was dead, everyone celebrated, drinking and parties were held everywhere except by those who understand…Naruto is _not_ Kyuubi, Sasuke," Kakashi said, looking the teen straight in the eye, "The Fourth Hokage gave his life to lock that monster inside of him, but Naruto is still Naruto…something most of the people here can't see unfortunately."

"So then how did he survive all these years? He looked as if he was about to starve when I stumbled across him." Sasuke asked.

"Though Naruto still has control over his body, Kyuubi's instincts are what saved Naruto's life. That's why he thinks more like a fox than a human, everything he does is like a fox except for a few select things. When he bared his neck to you, he was showing who was stronger and he'll only eat after you take your share because fox's are scavengers and will give up their meal to a stronger predator and return afterwards."

"And what happened today?"

Kakashi remained silent, studying Sasuke before answering. "Kyuubi took control of Naruto…that's why his eyes turned red. He forced his chakra through Naruto's body and healed the wounds, but Naruto was in so much pain he couldn't stop Kyuubi from taking over. It seems subconsciously Naruto understands the danger of letting the fox out and has remained in control most of the time."

Sasuke crossed his arms. "And he's in my house. Is he a threat?"

"Yes."

He nodded and stood again, "Fine. I want to be compensated for all this trouble though, Kakashi-sensei, he tore apart my kitchen earlier, he's damaged my carpet and my couch. I need to go shopping again tomorrow for more food and cleaner." He said before returning to the living room where Naruto was just waking up. Sasuke looked down at him as sleepy blue eyes blinked up at him.

Kakashi followed behind, staring at the cute blonde and came to lean on the couch. "Yo."

Sasuke knelt down in front of him and pointing at himself. "Sasuke." Naruto cocked his head and looked at him. He tried again, "I'm Sasuke," he said and then pointed at Naruto.

Kakashi nodded, pointing at himself, "Kakashi."

Naruto continued to stare, his brow furrowing with concentration. He pointed at Sasuke, "Sas…uke?" He said in a low whisper. He then pointed at Kakashi, "Sasuke?"

Sasuke shook his head. He pointed at himself. "Sasuke," then pointed at Kakashi, "Kakashi-sensei." He then looked at Naruto expectantly.

Slowly he pointed at Kakashi, "Kaka...Kakas-shi?" Sasuke nodded and Naruto pointed at him. "Sasuke?" Sasuke nodded again. Naruto furrowed his brow again and placed his hand on his chest. "Kitsune."

Dhampir  
Page 7  
2/22/05

**Reviews:**

**Ghostninja85:** I know I already e-mailed you, but thanks for being my first reviewer and thanks for the compliment on my writing. Just so you know, I love you story and your writing; I believe you are a superior writer to me and I always tell people to read your story. Sorry I took your idea, but please write it anyways! And I won't discontinue this one, I swear.

**Iceheart19**: Thanks, I misspelled that and it just corrected it, I hadn't even thought to check it…I feel like an idiot…hehe. Also, as you can see, the other teammate is Hikari, sorry, I just randomly came up with a name since she never even make's an appearance except in Sasuke's thoughts.

**Archangel Rhapsody:** I don't know what this is going to be, but of course Naruto was raised with people so he really doesn't understand sexuality…

**Bhodi li:** Don't worry, I haven't forgotten _Living A Lie_ nor will I.

**A fangirl wanting you to write Gravitation:** Thanks, I'm touched someone would go to another fic just to get me to write more _Gravitation_, but don't worry. I have put out the third chapter, but I have two Naruto fics so they will be updated more…And getting inside Yuki's head is hard!

**Ranma hibiki:** I really don't know where I'm going to go with this yet…I've thought about a fox family, but I don't know…I'll just let the characters decide where they want to go.

**Crowkeeper990:** I will try to update this as much as possible, though it's harder because there's not as much dialogue, though that will eventually change…

**Writerlover101:** I'm glad you like it…um…if you're asking if I like it, yeah I do kinda. There are parts that I don't, but I'm more of a build-up-to writer and not a jump-to-the-interesting-stuff writer…hope that doesn't tick anyone off.

**Rainwater:** Yay! I have a biggest fan and yes, you got the name right.

**Everyone Else:** I really do read everyone's reviews and appreciate them all, but I only answer questions. Please don't feel put out because of it or think I think any less of you because I don't. I really love every review I receive because it's one more than I thought I would receive. Thank you all and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

**Note:** Sorry if it takes long, I'm trying to go as fast as I can with each story, but this is taking longer than usual because there's so little dialogue. Thank you all for being patient.

Dhampir


	4. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** Inspired by _Through Wolf's Eyes._

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Four_

Kakashi moved closer and looked at the blonde. "Kyuubi?" He asked, watching him closely.

Naruto frowned, licking his lips, and then repeated. "Kitsune."

"Kakashi-sensei, how is it he speaks?" Sasuke asked, trying to understand just what was happening.

"Kyuubi's instincts just took over, not Kyuubi himself." _I hope,_ he added silently. "Naruto was five when the caravan was attacked so he was capable of speech and also knows some manners and probably a little ninjitsu, but when Naruto was abandoned Kyuubi had to give him the instincts to survive. It seems he has retained some remembrance of speech."

Naruto cocked his head, his face wrinkled as he tried to understand what they were saying. He understood 'Kyuubi', that was the evil locked inside of him, and the word 'Naruto' was familiar to him, though he didn't understand what it meant and the word made him feel anxious and upset.

Kakashi's eyes never left the blonde, even when he was speaking with Sasuke. He pointed at Naruto and said, "Kyuubi?"

The blonde growled and pointed at his head, "Kitsune." He then pointed at his stomach and growled again.

"So he knows…" Kakashi whispered, looking Naruto's slim frame up and down. He then squatted down, Naruto following suit, and looking at the blonde in the eyes. He pointed at him and said, "Naruto."

He frowned again, "Kitsune." He repeated.

"No. Naruto."

"Kitsune." He insisted.

The silver haired ninja looked over at Sasuke and sighed. "Kitsune it is." Standing up again, he looked at Sasuke. "Well, I've had a long day, I think I'll retire now. Bye!"

Before Sasuke could say a word, Kakashi was gone, leaving Sasuke—once again—alone with Naruto. He sighed and looked at the blonde still crouched on the ground. "Come on." He muttered and started up the stairs, Naruto following after him.

"Sasuke." Naruto said and the stoic ninja turned around to look at him, but Naruto just cocked his head and stared at him with large blue eyes. Sasuke sighed and turned around again, walking towards Naruto's room to get him ready for bed again. "Sasuke." Naruto said again.

"_What?_" He snapped, making the blonde gasp. He immediately looked down and said nothing more. Sasuke sighed and raked his hand through his hair, pushing the blonde into his room. He tucked him into the bed and then started out; pausing at the door to say, "Stay," before moving to his room.

"Tomorrow we'll begin teaching him." Kakashi said from his room, leaning against the doorframe.

"Hai Kakashi-sensei." He muttered as he passed into his room. Closing and locking the door, he changed out of his clothes and collapsed onto his bed. The hyperactive blonde was certainly a handful and the information he had gathered today was enough to keep him up all night. Yet he cleared his thoughts and sought sleep, knowing tomorrow would be all the more worse.

Well, the day was starting off well. Naruto sat in the kitchen, cans scattered across the ground again, glaring at Sasuke who was glaring back at him. Kakashi leaned against the door just watching as Sasuke tried to teach Naruto about the foods. "No." He repeated when Naruto reached for the food, slapping his hand.

The blonde removed his hand with a hiss and glared again. He wanted his food, he wanted it now, and he wasn't getting it. He reached again, but Sasuke slapped his hand once more, "_No._" He growled and Naruto sulked back in his chair. 'No' was a word he had been learning all morning and he was finally understanding it after four hours, though he wasn't happy with it.

Kakashi finally came into the kitchen and sat down next to Naruto, smiling at the blonde. "Naruto."

He frowned, "Kitsune." He said and then pointed at Kakashi, "Kakakashi."

He sighed, "Close enough."

"Sasuke." Naruto said, his now favorite word. The teen turned around, but Naruto just stared at him like before, repeating, "Sasuke."

"What Naruto?" He asked, sitting down at the table and passing the blonde a plate of food. He gave the other to Kakashi and grabbed an apple for himself.

"Sasuke." He said again, smiling.

"What Naruto?"

The blonde frowned. "_No._" He said.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, "No?"

"No."

Kakashi quickly cleared his plate, pulling his mask up before the two saw him and just watched the two boys.

"No." He said flatly.

Naruto nodded, "No."

Sasuke sighed and bit into his apple. "No."

Smiling happily, Naruto picked up the food in one hand and tried to eat it, the rice slipping through his fingers. He bolted his food and then looked at Sasuke after cleaning the table free of any spilled food. "Sasuke."

"What?"

"No."

Sasuke growled and left the kitchen, this was becoming annoying. Yet Naruto jumped down from his seat and followed Sasuke through the house, watching everything he did and repeating it, much to Sasuke's annoyance.

"I need to report to Hokage-sama, be back before dark!" Kakashi said, disappearing again.

"I'm going to kill him…" Sasuke muttered before turning back to the blonde, who was perching on the railing. "_No!_" He yelled, jerking Naruto off it.

"Sasuke!" Naruto whimpered, but he didn't get back up on the rail.

**A Week Later**

Sasuke nodded in approval. Naruto had put on the damn lounge pants by himself for once. He was getting tired of having to put those on him, but the blonde still refused to wear a shirt. They had gotten some things down though: 'no', 'stay', 'stop' and 'what'. The blonde's new word was 'what' and he used it for everything.

Walking into the kitchen, Naruto pointed at the table, "What?"

Sasuke sighed, this was the third time today, "Table." He said and Naruto nodded, moving to the cabinets and pointing. "Cabinet."

"What?" He asked, pointing at Sasuke.

"Ninja."

"Sasuke."

"Hai."

Naruto cocked his head, not understanding the word. "What?"

"Hai." He repeated, nodding his head. When the blonde just continued to stare, he pointed at him. "Kitsune." Naruto nodded and he added, "Hai."

Not understanding, the blonde just shrugged and moved to the living room, pointing at the couch. "What?"

"Couch."

"What?"

"Lamp."

"What?"

"Floor."

"What?"

"Window."

Naruto carefully approached the window and touched the glass, surprised by the clear barrier. "What?" He asked, tapping on the glass.

"Glass." Sasuke said, somewhat amused by Naruto's puzzled expression.

He looked outside and let out a sigh. "No." He whispered, staring at the sky. Sasuke had found him glancing out the windows before, but he had never approached one until now. He really missed outside, you could tell by the mournful expression that echoed in his eyes when he stared outside the window.

Sasuke approached the blonde and pointed outside. "You want to go?"

He frowned, not understanding. "What?"

Taking the blonde's hand, he led him to the backdoor and opened it. "Go?" He asked again, stepping outside.

Carefully the blonde followed, his blue eyes shimmering in the sunlight and his hair glowing a vibrant yellow. He breathed deep the fresh air and began running through the meadow, staring up at the sun and smiling. He turned back to Sasuke and pointed at the ground. "What?" He asked.

"Grass."

"What?" Pointing at the sun.

"Sun."

And it went on. They walked through the field, Naruto asking and Sasuke identifying, most of the day. When supper came, Sasuke led Naruto back to the house, though the blonde was quite upset about having to leave the outdoors once again, but he followed Sasuke anyways.

"Yo." Kakashi said when the two of them came in.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke nodded as he closed the door with a sulking Naruto in tow.

"What's wrong?" He asked, pointing at Naruto.

"He doesn't want to come inside." Sasuke shrugged.

"Ah, well, I brought someone to meet him, with Hokage-sama's approval of course."

"Sakura?" He asked flatly, not looking forward to seeing the girl again. He hadn't enjoyed his week off from training, but dealing with two annoying people would be too much for him.

"Nope!" Kakashi said and led them towards the living room where a scarred ninja in a ponytail stood.

The blonde's interest piqued and he looked over Sasuke's shoulder, pointing at the chuunin. "What?"

"No." Sasuke said.

"No?"

"Who."

"What?"

"No. Who." He pointed at the scarred ninja and said, "Who?" Then he pointed at the couch and said, "What?"

Naruto frowned, but pointed at the chuunin and said, "…who?"

Sasuke nodded and then answered, "Iruka-sensei."

"I'm not your sensei anymore Sasuke-kun." Iruka answered, but he smiled anyways and approached Naruto. "Hello." He said, but Naruto shrank back, uncertain why the ninja was coming so close to him.

"No." He said, retreating a couple steps.

Iruka looked at Kakashi in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not certain."

"Naruto?" Iruka asked lowly. "Do you remember me?"

The blonde frowned. "No." He said forcefully. "Kitsune! Kitsune, Kitsune, Kitsune!" He looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke," then at Kakashi, "Kakakashi," and then at himself, "Kitsune!"

The chuunin nodded, whispering, "Gomen, Kitsune." He knelt down and looked at the blonde haired boy he hadn't seen in eight years and smiled. "Iruka."

Slowly the blonde approached him, his eyes showing a vague flicker of recognition, yet he couldn't remember who he was. "Iruka." He repeated, pointing at him.

"Do you remember me?" He asked.

Naruto frowned and turned to look at Sasuke, "Who?"

He rolled his eyes, "Dobe." He muttered, but shook his head at Iruka. "He doesn't understand that much yet."

Iruka looked crestfallen, but smiled at the blonde and just nodded. "Kitsune."

Naruto beamed, nodding vigorously. "Hai!" He then looked at Sasuke, wanting to know if he said it right.

Sasuke nodded and Naruto grinned. "Iruka-sensei, how is it you know him?"

Sighing, the scarred ninja stood back up, looking fondly at the blonde, and turned to answer Sasuke's question. "Before Naruto was taken away I was his caretaker. I'm the one who taught him everything he knows…before Kyuubi's instincts took over. I was hoping he'd remember me and maybe bring back some of his memories."

"He's been alone for eight years." Kakashi pointed out. "And only using the basic instincts to survive. Most likely his memories of before then are very vague."

"Hai, you're right." Iruka sighed. "But I still can't believe he's alive…" He smiled as the blonde frowned at the conversation above his vocabulary. "Well now, why don't I cook dinner?"

Sasuke nodded, "Kitsune, come." He said, heading up the stairs to wash their faces and hands…and change Naruto's clothes. The blonde dobe had found a stream while they were out and jumped into it, soaking his pants. Naruto followed obediently and pouted when Sasuke handed him another pair of lounge pants, but he understood what was wanted.

He still didn't understand the second skin completely, but he now knew it would not hurt to remove or affect him in any way so he wore them. He did have to admit they did keep him warmer, but the other skin…he didn't like that one. It restricted his arms and he didn't like it one bit.

After he was cleaned up, Sasuke led him back towards the dining room, but Naruto sniffed the air and immediately his eyes brightened. He knew that smell and it always excited him. Before Sasuke could stop him, Naruto bolted down the stairs to the table, perching in his seat and waiting.

Sasuke sighed, at least he understood sitting at the table…sort of. That had taken three days of withholding food and scolding the blonde and he was pleased to know he didn't have to do that anymore at least. The yowling, whimpering, begging and growling during those days gave him a constant headache and he had to watch the blonde closely since he now understood how to open the refrigerator.

Iruka smiled at the anxious blonde and set down a plate in front of him as the other two ninjas appeared into the dining room, their food already laid out. Sasuke watched closely as Iruka sat down next to the blonde and tried to help him use chopsticks instead of his hands.

Naruto tried to copy the movements, but he didn't like how little he could eat with them and finally snapped the chopsticks in half. "No." He pouted.

The chuunin sighed and let Naruto eat how he wanted to, wolfing down the food as if it were his last meal and then eyeing every one else's plate. Sasuke sighed, it was always the same this entire week he couldn't stop Naruto's quick eating or his watching everyone else eat.

Iruka noticed Naruto's hungry eyes on his plate and looked at Sasuke and Kakashi questioningly. "Why's he doing that?" He asked.

"Naruto thinks like a fox, remember? He thinks every meal will be his last and so he eats as much as he can, he still hasn't learned that he'll continue to have food. He still thinks day to day, nothing about the future or the past unless it's a lesson he's learned." Kakashi said. "Already he's been storing food under his bed for later. It's instinct."

Sasuke looked up in surprise. "He's storing food in my house!" He growled, glaring at the blonde who shrunk back uncertain of what he'd done.

"Don't worry, it's just apples and grapes, nothing that will go bad yet. It's just a reaction he has. He's a scavenger, it's why he eats so much and why he hides food so other animals won't steal his food."

He wasn't happy, but he returned to his food, still glaring at the blonde, and remained silent for the rest of the meal.

After supper, Iruka cleaned up with Naruto trailing him expectantly. He wanted more food and there was still food on the plates. Yet to his horror, Iruka began throwing the food into a bag and then washing the plates. Naruto gaped and darted out to find Sasuke.

"Sasuke." He said once he found the stoic ninja sitting on the couch. "Sasuke."

"What?" Sasuke asked, surprised to see the horrified look on Naruto's face.

"Go. Go." He said, pulling at Sasuke's sleeve. Sasuke stood up and followed Naruto to the kitchen where Iruka was drying the plates.

"What?" Sasuke repeated as Naruto whimpered and continued to pull at his sleeve. He finally dragged Sasuke over to the trashcan and pointed at the food lying in the trashcan.

"No." He said.

Sasuke sighed, "No." Naruto, thinking he agreed with him, nodded and wanted to take the food out, but Sasuke slapped his hand. "No." When the blonde continued to look horrified, Sasuke opened the refrigerator and handed Naruto an apple as compensation.

The blonde took it and rolled it around in his hands. "What?"

"Apple." He said. "Yours."

He frowned, "What?"

Sasuke pointed at the apple and then at Naruto. "Yours." He grabbed another apple and pointed to himself. "Mine." Then pointing back at Naruto's apple, he said again, "Yours."

Naruto pointed at himself. "Yours."

"No."

He frowned. "What?"

Sighing, Sasuke tried again. "Yours." And then pointing at his again. "Mine." Then he took Naruto's hand and pointed at the apple in his hand and then at the blonde. "Mine."

Naruto frowned and bit at his lip before pointing at Sasuke's apple and Sasuke and saying, "Yours?"

"Hai."

Then at his own and saying, "Mine."

"Hai." Slightly smirking.

The blonde beamed and then ran to hide his apple where no one could steal it. Sasuke sighed and put his apple back into the refrigerator while Iruka chuckled.

"So, no wasting food I presume?"

"No…he's horrified at the prospect." Sasuke answered in a tired voice.

"Well, Sasuke-kun, I'll take care of Naruto, you go ahead and get cleaned up and go to sleep."

Not even protesting, the stoic ninja nodded and headed to his room, taking a long shower and collapsing into his bed, with a sigh. The blonde was going to be the death of him and it had only been a week.

Iruka tucked the blonde into bed and ruffled his blonde spikes. "Goodnight Kitsune." He said, leaning down to kiss the blonde's forehead.

He frowned, not understanding the kiss, but knowing it was familiar and closed his eyes tight, whimpering.

"Nar…Kitsune?" Iruka asked, sitting beside him and stroking his face.

"What?" He opened his eyes and asked, pointing to where Iruka kissed him.

"Kiss." Iruka said, kissing his forehead again. Naruto sighed and nodded, curling up into a ball and closing his eyes once more to sleep. Iruka looked down at him fondly and patted his shoulder once before leaving. He paused by the door and whispered, "Good night Naruto…"

—Dream/Flashback—

_"So Naruto. Are you happy to leave Konoha?" Kenji asked._

_The five year old shook his head. "Iruka-san…" He whispered, hiding his face in his hands._

_"Don't worry," Kenji smiled, wrapping his arm around Naruto's shoulder. "I'm certain Iruka will visit, but you know it's dangerous to stay in Konoha and we just want to protect you."_

_"But why?" He asked, sniffing._

_"Ah, ah, ah. A ninja does not cry so no crying Naruto-kun."_

_"But I don't want to leave."_

_"I know you don't, but there are people in Konoha who want to hurt you little one and so we're taking you somewhere else."_

_"Why?"_

_Kenji smiled down softly at him. "I wish I could tell you."_

_"Will we ever go back?"_

_"Maybe one day, but not until you're older and can protect yourself."_

_"I miss Iruka-san." Naruto whispered. "Why can't he come?"_

_Kenji tilted his head up and traced the whisker marks on Naruto's cheek. "He just started his teaching position, Nartuo-kun, and as much as he wanted to come, he can't until the year is finished. I miss him too…but you'll be strong for Iruka right? You'll be strong for him."_

_The blonde nodded, "Strong."_

_"That's a good boy, now up on my back. Break's over, let's move!" He ordered and the twelve ninjas accompanying them quickly grabbed their packs and followed Kenji through the forest. _

_"WATCH OUT!" Someone yelled._

—Dream/Flashback—

Naruto awoke from his dream with a broken cry, sitting up. He was shivering and his skin was covered in sweat. He whimpered and crawled out of bed, dragging his blanket with him. Slowly, he went to Sasuke's room and tugged at the door, but it was locked. He tugged again, whimpering louder, and scratched at it.

Sasuke quickly opened the door and Naruto immediately darted into his room, still shaking. "Kitsune?" He asked, watching as the blonde paced his room, dragging his blanket behind him.

"W-who?" The blonde finally asked.

"Who?" Sasuke repeated, trying to understand.

He whimpered again and shook his head.

Sighing, Sasuke took his hand. "Come on, back to bed." He began back towards the room, but when he reached the door, Naruto whimpered and dug his feet in.

"No. No, no, no." He said, shaking more.

Sasuke eyed the blonde and then looked into the room. Nothing was there…but Naruto was obviously distressed. He looked at the large eyes darting around nervously and sighed. "A nightmare. He had a nightmare." He muttered and led Naruto back to his room. He laid out Naruto's blanket on the floor next to his bed and pointed at it. "Sleep."

Naruto frowned, but he did lay down as Sasuke slid back into his bed. He whimpered again, but closed his eyes and tried to sleep once more as Sasuke watched him.

Two hours later, Naruto finally fell asleep and Sasuke followed soon after, both of them exhausted from the day and both fighting their own nightmares.

Dhampir  
Page 8  
3/4/05

**Reviews:  
**  
**Dbzneon:** Actually pairings...um...no I haven't. I've been leaning towards Naruto not being paired with anyone though because he doesn't understand the whole sexuality thing...  
**Goth Child of Zyon:** Feral children (yes they are real) though they may be civilized, will never completely lose their feral instincts and mannerisms. So no, Naruto will never completely lose the fox instincts though he'll talk more and such.  
**bhodi li:** Hopefully this chapter explained some of your questions, but just in case. I never said Naruto didn't know how to speak. He was five, which means he did know how to speak as well as mannerisms and such. He will still have to learn it, but Kyuubi's instincts took over once he was abandoned and his memories were suppressed in a way. As he interacts, he'll gain them somewhat. And yes, there will be flashbacks in his dreams.  
**Iceheart19:** As I said above, hehe, he can talk because he did know how to communicate before Kyuubi's instincts took over. I hope I'm not going too fast...sorry if it did...  
**Zsych:** Well, unfortunately since this is mostly interaction between Sasuke and Naruto there will be some OOC, but I'm trying to stay away from that...though I don't seem to be succeeding. Thank you about the Hokage-sama...I don't know what I was thinking. Well, in the next chapter I'm going to explain why Naruto would think of them as strange creatures, but his memories of his life before he was five was suppressed with Kyuubi's instincts. Anyways, thanks for the constructive criticism and the comments, I really appreciate them and keep them up.  
**Other review:** A domestic animal would think about the source of food, a wild animal will look to the stronger person first. He respects Sasuke and not the others only because Sasuke is the only one he fought, but since Sasuke respects Kakashi and the Hokage, Naruto will too. Also, Kyuubi's wisdom and power are not part of his instincts. All that was given to Naruto were his instincts, not his power and because Naruto does not know how to use chakra, he cannot hone Kyuubi's. Oh, and Naruto will be more willing to kill, we'll see that later.  
**Everyone Else:** Thank you for the reviews, I appreciate them all! I'm glad so many people find this interesting and well written. I'm honestly not certain will this will go in the end, but I'll let the characters lead and I shall follow!

**Note:** Sorry for the long update, but for those of you who know, I've got three stories here on as well as two others elsewhere and another in the making. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I actually had some fun writing this one, and later!


	5. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor the characters.  
**Note:** This is inspired by _Through Wolf's Eyes_ and there is OOC.

**Notes:**  
1. "Raven-hair" is Sasuke.  
2. "Kitsune" is Naruto.  
3. "Claws" are hands.  
4. "Fangs" are teeth.

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Five_

Naruto sniffed his food. Humans were so odd…they cooked their meat, drawing it of the warm red liquid and filling the taste with smoke and charcoal. They refused to eat their meat raw—unless it was fish wrapped in seaweed and rice—and refused him to eat his meat raw as well. He liked his meat full of flavor and warm with blood, but the humans were appalled by it.

Pouting, he looked down at the food before him and wrinkled his nose in disgust. At first he had loved the human cooking, it was so different and new, but after a month of these odd meals, he craved the _hunt._ He missed the rush of adrenaline as he ran through the woods, the feel of the wind upon his face, the scent of prey heavy in the air and the rush of pride when his claws and fangs tore into warm flesh.

This bland, smoky meat before him was tough, dry and without the satisfaction that came with the hunt. He picked up the two sticks next to him and fitted them to his hand, something he still struggled with. He didn't understand why humans were so persistent about using these thin sticks instead of their claws to eat—claws were easier, more efficient and quicker than using two small sticks.

He carefully picked up a piece of meat, learning after many trials that he had to be slow lest the meat fall, and took a bite. Fire engulfed his mouth and he hissed at the spicy meat, clawing to get the remnants out of his mouth. He threw the sticks to the ground and coughed at the burning spices.

"Kitsune?" Iruka asked. It had taken a month for the three shinobi to stop bringing up the name 'Naruto' around him and even now Iruka still slipped.

"Don't like." He said with his limited vocabulary.

"Don't like?" Iruka persisted while Sasuke just scowled at the blonde for interrupting his supper and Kakashi just continued to eat.

Naruto pointed at his food. "No."

"You have to eat."

The blonde knew that phrase well and huffed. "No."

"Kitsune." Iruka warned, staring down at the thirteen year old boy.

"No."

Sasuke growled from across the table, "Eat damn it and shut up."

Naruto snarled in response and stormed away from the table, taking his normal seat next to the window. Raven-hair might be his superior, but that didn't mean he had to follow every order, just show him respect. The words 'damn it' and 'shut up' he didn't quite comprehend, but Raven-hair's disposition was hostile—as always.

Sighing, he stared out the window. He wanted to go out, but he was only allowed outside from when the sun rose to when it sat three hands in the sky. And even then a human had to be with him. Staring at the setting sun, he raised his eyes to follow the lone bird flying above him—free. A small yowl escaped his throat and he settled his face on the windowsill, staring longingly at the freedom he had once had flying above him.

**:-:-:-:-:**

Iruka stared at Naruto's retreated back and frowned, his eyes filling with worry. "What's wrong with the meat this time?" He asked the silent table. Living with a stoic boy, a feral boy and a perverted jounin was anything but easy, but Hokage-sama had placed him back as Naruto's guardian, meaning he had to live with Iruka. But Naruto refused to leave Sasuke for long and the spacious apartment the teacher lived in was too small for a hyperactive fox boy.

So now the four of them were living together—much to Sasuke's chagrin—and trying to find a way for all four of them to live their lives normally. Yet everything had changed since Naruto had come. Sasuke used to get up at five each morning, but now he got up at six because Naruto kept them all up later. Sasuke still trained each morning, but with Naruto tailing him, trying to copy him and ruining most of his workout.

Iruka awoke an hour later than Sasuke and began breakfast every morning, making certain both boys ate at least something and waking Kakashi up at eleven. That alone took an hour. If the silver jounin didn't have three cups of coffee in the morning, he wouldn't be able to function and just getting him out of bed took a half hour or longer.

The scarred ninja had taken up to cleaning the house, teaching his classes as well as teaching Naruto the language and how to act 'civilized'. By the time nine came, the poor teacher was completely exhausted, leaving putting Naruto to sleep up to Sasuke. Kakashi was gone most of the day, out training Sakura alone, on missions or teaching Sasuke separately. They didn't want to introduce another person just yet, especially since Naruto was having a hard enough time understanding them—with Sakura's constant talking, the fox boy would be overwhelmed.

Every day was different with Naruto, sometimes it was good and sometimes it wasn't so good. There were days that were entertaining as Naruto learned something new or found an amazing contraption, like the folding cot. The fox boy had spent hours folding it and unfolding it and jumping on it and inspecting it while they just watched.

Then there were days like when Naruto had discovered just how sharp a knife could be, slicing his hand wide open or when he had dropped one of Sasuke's kunai's on his foot… Iruka sighed remembering trying to calm the snarling, spitting and hissing boy down long enough to wrap the wounds, which had disappeared within minutes of being wrapped. The blonde still refused to wear a shirt or shoes, he didn't like them, but at Iruka's insistence, he had taken to wearing the pants consistently. He had done that by withholding food from the blonde until he wore his pants, but that caused a lot of howling and ringing ears.

Sasuke huffed and returned to the meal before him. He couldn't care less what was wrong with the meal this time, at least nothing got broken this time. Naruto had a habit that when he didn't like someone to push the plate either on the ground or away, usually breaking something. He picked up another piece of steak and chewed it slowly. At least there was one good thing about having four idiots living in his house, Iruka-sensei could cook. He had never really learned how to, sticking usually to whatever he had and bland meats, he liked this though he wouldn't admit that.

He had already tried to get them out of his house, asking Hokage-sama to 'please' to let him have his house back. But the old man adamantly refused, saying his mansion was large and secluded enough to keep the village from knowing about Naruto and keep the troublesome blonde out of trouble.

Sasuke had tried again once Iruka was listed as Naruto's guardian to get them out of his house, but the Hokage still refused. He said Sasuke needed someone else living with him there and that a twelve year old boy never should be living alone. So, against both Kakashi's and Sasuke's wishes, Hokage-sama listed Kakashi as Sasuke's guardian.

Looking at his so called 'guardian', Sasuke scowled. The lazy jounin was too laid back to be worth anything, though he was teaching Sasuke how to fight and a more efficient way to use his chakra. Only the four of them knew what Kakashi looked like beneath the mask, the silver shinobi couldn't keep his mask on every second of the day and had finally taken off, revealing…absolutely nothing. There was nothing wrong with the teacher at all and yet he always wore that damn mask.

When Sasuke had asked, Kakashi smiled and said he had taken to wearing it during missions to keep smoke out of his mouth, but that he had began to wear it constantly to just make people wonder. Sasuke just snorted and walked away, it was such a stupid reason.

Kakashi hummed a small tune while eating, his mask lying on his knee. He couldn't say he enjoyed being Sasuke's guardian, the boy was too serious and too like him when he was younger for comfort, but he wasn't about to go against the Hokage. And he knew he didn't have to worry about Sasuke getting into trouble like Naruto, but the silence the black haired ninja held was unnerving. He was hard to read, hard to understand and those calculating eyes could send shivers down anyone's spine.

He had already finished eating, loving how great a cook Iruka was. If it was just him and Sasuke, there'd be a problem because neither of them could cook. Yet he also couldn't understand what Naruto didn't like about the food this time, but the blonde was having many problems lately. Almost everything they cooked he didn't like, he continued to stare outside, he had horrible nightmares almost every night and would get this far away look in his eyes at times as if remembering something he had once had.

Looking at the untouched plate, his eyes scanned the meat and he suddenly understood. "It's too spicy." He drawled as if it was nothing interesting.

The teacher looked up, "What?"

"The meat, it's spicy that's why he doesn't like it." He smiled.

Understanding dawned on him, "Oh!" Looking over to where the blonde was sitting he sighed, "He used to like spicy foods…"

"Before he was lost."

"We still don't know what happened." Iruka sighed. "And the only survivor can't speak and tell us."

"Hai…"

**:-:-:-:-:**

Naruto huffed. The full moon was out and the night was calling to him and he couldn't go. Pacing the room, he fiddled with his hands, trying to ignore how much he wanted to be outside and knowing he couldn't.

"Dobe, stop that." Sasuke snapped, sitting on his bed. The blonde had taken to sleeping in his room, he wouldn't sleep elsewhere unless Sasuke was near and so now the two boys were stuck in the room together with Naruto pacing in front of him.

Snarling, Naruto stomped over to the window and stared longingly at the moon. The humans couldn't understand, they didn't understand what he felt, the pull of the night that called all nocturnal animals. He had ignored it for a month; he could no longer ignore its call. He _needed_ to get out of this enclosed shelter and feel the wind, breathe the clean air, hunt and explore the woods once more.

Sasuke snorted and fell back onto his bed, his hands above his head, and closed his eyes. The damn blonde had ruined everything. First his house was taken away, then his silence, then his life, then his own freedom and now his damn room. Since the first week, Naruto wouldn't sleep anywhere except in Sasuke's room, at the foot of his bed or before the door, it didn't matter to the blonde as long as Sasuke was there.

It was true that Sasuke understood Naruto better than anyone else. He understood the blonde's moods, the way he carried himself, the snarls, the yowls and spitting and hissing that was a constant with him and he understood what Naruto wanted as he looked out the window. What Iruka and the other adults refused both of them.

He knew it was coming before it came, he could tell by how silent Naruto had fallen, and he sat up just in time to see Naruto's fist flying through the window, shattering it for the second time this month. The blonde had learned from his first experience jumping through the window and this time slid onto the roof and down to the ground with inhuman grace.

"Shit!" Sasuke growled, sliding out of the bed to follow the blonde. If he left to get Iruka or Kakashi Naruto would be gone by the time they were ready to follow him and Naruto was somehow his responsibility because he had found him. Sliding barefoot to the ground, Sasuke caught a glimpse of the blonde making a beeline towards the forest and followed.

The night wasn't cold, but the breeze that blew through Sasuke's hair sent shivers down his spin. A clear sky full of stars and the full moon lit the dark forest, casting shadows and causing the setting to seem even fuller of life that it was. Yet Naruto didn't seem to notice any of this as he rushed gracefully through the forest, jumping over fallen trees and sliding and dodging the branches blocking his path. His graceful movements made Sasuke's look blocky and slow as if he had never done this before in his life and he was slowly losing sight of the blonde. Odd, the fox boy was the only sunkissed blonde he knew with vibrant blue eyes, he stuck out like a sore thumb, but in the forest…he blended in as if he belonged.

Naruto stopped and let out a couple yips, looking over his shoulder at Sasuke. "No." He said, his eyes different from before. They were still blue, but there was something different about them, something calculating and intelligent within them.

"What?" Sasuke asked. There was no way the dobe was going to refuse him to follow.

Yet the look in Naruto's eyes wasn't one of annoyance or even anger, it was one of fear. He saw the blonde struggling for the words and waited patiently as the blonde scrunched his face in concentration and growled with frustration. "Don't eat. No. Sasuke, no, don't eat."

"Don't eat?" He asked, confused.

Snarling, Naruto rushed at him and pushed him out of the way as a large snake snapped his jaws inches from his face. The two boys rolled across the ground while the snake tried to follow them. Naruto pushed off the ground and faced the snake head on, snarling and showing his fangs.

Sasuke jumped beside him and reached for his kunai, but he had left his holster in his room. "Fuck." He whispered, looking into the dark eyes of the snake slithering towards him. All he had were his jutsus and most of them he couldn't use surrounded by trees and close to the blonde.

Naruto hissed and spit at him, walking slowly towards him as if the snake was naught but a small bug. The snake lunged, but Naruto's quick reflexes kept him from getting bit as he swiped his claws across the scaly face.

The snake pulled back, shaking its large head at the sting of those razor sharp claws. Fox claws. Sasuke stared at the blonde, when the hell did those nails of his become so sharp? Or for that matter, when had his whiskers become darker? He watched as Naruto dodged the snake's lunges, missing those fangs by inches as he continued to inflict wound after wound on the large creature.

The snake's beady eyes suddenly focused on Sasuke and before either of them could react, lunged at the stoic ninja. Sasuke gasped and rolled out of the way, but the snake caught him by the leg, biting deep into his calf. Sasuke yelled in pain and tried to pull out of the snake's mouth, but the snake clamped down harder and drew Sasuke into the air.

Naruto snarled angrily and fell into a crouch on the ground, his eyes calculating his enemy. Sasuke was his superior, his to protect and this snake was taking away what was his. He dug his claws into the ground and gritted his teeth at the sudden burst of power welling within his body, he hated that vile feeling every time this happened, but it had saved his life many a times.

Sasuke gripped his caught leg with both hands, his breath catching as he knew what would happen next. The snake was poisonous, he could already feel the venom flowing in his veins, his leg already numb and it wouldn't be long before his body followed. He turned his eyes to his charge and stared at what was once Naruto. The blood thirsty look in those red eyes, not blue, not innocent and uncomprehending…no these eyes were the eyes of a killer, a vicious killer and they didn't look like Naruto at all. He could sense the red chakra flowing in him—red, blood red, just like those cold, unnerving eyes. It wasn't human and the claws the blonde was sporting wasn't human either.

With an inhuman yowl, Naruto charged towards the snake, jumping up to the snake's neck and sinking his claws into the tough skin. That shouldn't be possible, to sink fingernails into scales…Sasuke _knew_ it wasn't possible and yet Naruto just did.

The snake shuddered with pain, but didn't drop his prey. The fox boy cut, sliced, punctured and ripped at the tough hide all the way down until his feet touch the ground. He snarled again and sent out a wave of overwhelming power. The snake, knowing he was beat and dying, dropped Sasuke from his jaws and slithered away, bleeding tremendously as he went.

Naruto knew the snake wouldn't get far before it died, the wounds were too deep and even if it did survive the initial attack, the wounds would get infected and kill it that way instead. The overload of chakra left his body and Naruto felt his strength leave him like it always did after one of these bouts. He fell to his knees, his energy leaving him as his claws shrinking back to normal, his whisker marks fading until they were only small, thin black lines, his canines returning to their elongated, but dulled, shape and his eyes slowly fading into sky blue once more.

Sweat poured down his face as he struggled for control. He could feel the creature within him struggling against its bonds for supremacy, trying to break free and show it was the dominant mind. The creature scared him, he knew what it was and who it was, but why it was within him…he did not understand. The creature taught him everything he knew about life—how to hunt, how to walk, how to fight, how to understand the creatures of the forest and how to live. It was because of _him_ that he had survived this long and he knew the great fox was the dominant mind, but he also knew that he could never release the thing within him. He knew if he ever did, then his life and the lives of the forest—everything he loved—would be destroyed.

He looked ten feet from him and focused on the fallen body there. Raven-hair, the stoic boy hadn't understood when he warned him. With his limited vocabulary, he couldn't warn Raven-hair not to come towards him or move. Snakes picked up on scent and movement. At the time, Sasuke was downwind, but closer to the snake and if he had just stayed where he was, the snake wouldn't have attacked him. The large, venomous snake would've come towards Naruto, where he could've killed it and been satisfied with the hunt.

But the human had followed him and had put both of them in danger and now both of them were without energy or a defense. Snarling, he dragged himself over towards his superior and looked down at the stoic ninja, waiting for something from the boy. "Sasuke." He whispered, his voice tired and weak.

Sasuke slowly looked up. He could feel the venom taking affect, his body had grown heavy and his right leg was numb from the venom. The pulsating feeling going through his body was the venom spreading slowly through his veins, shutting down his body one system at a time. He knew it well; poisons had been a side study of his. First it would be his muscles, he wouldn't be able to move, then it would be his nerves, he wouldn't be able to feel anymore, then it would be his sight and salivating at the mouth and last it would his lungs. His lungs would paralyze and he'd stop breathing and die.

Looking up, he focused his eyes on the figure above him, looming and calling his name in a weak voice. He saw blue eyes glinting in the night and knew whatever had been Naruto minutes before was gone and the fox boy was his odd self again. Staring up at him, Sasuke took a shallow breath, the fall to the ground had been a good thirty feet and from the angle he was dropped, he couldn't break his fall well. He knew his left wrist was broken, he was pretty certain a couple ribs were at least cracked and of course he was unable to use his right leg.

The rest of his body went numb and his sight began to blur, Naruto's shadow began to blend in with the background and dim. His head dropped to the side and he could see the saliva coming from his mouth. He couldn't feel it, but he could still see it pooling on the ground, foaming as a result of the venom. His breathing became shallower and more sporadic as the venom began spreading into his lungs. He heard Naruto give a yelp of surprise just before silver hair and gray eyes looked down at him.

Kakashi-sensei was here. He had found them. For once he was thankful to have someone for a guardian, someone cared enough about him to go and find him when the two of them had disappeared. The silver ninja knelt down and picked Sasuke off the ground as the last of his consciousness began to fade. "We need to get to Hokage-sama." Kakashi said to someone, but Sasuke couldn't hear who it was. Everything spiraled into black and left him wondering who else he was talking to and what about Naruto?

**Reviews:**

**Lady Samurai:** Honestly, I'm thinking about when I get to that point of just writing two separate chapters each time. I'm a realistic writer, even though this is anime, I still like to write realistically. If I did so, Naruto wouldn't pair with anyone because he would pair with someone like him and of course he can't do that. Buta lot of people want yaoi so I might end up writing a yaoi version and then my version.  
**Jakk:** My version, I was planning for Naruto and Sasuke to be brother, close brothers, but as I said above, a lot of people want yaoi...but either way, I'll be writing a brotherly one and maybe a yaoi one...  
**Kawaii Kitsune-kun:** Hehe, sorry? I'm contemplating asI said above above.  
**Metrime:** Sorry. I didn't mean to do that, I really don't know why I did...But now Iruka's teaching and so we know that Naruto will be fine. But also, if I wanted to do that way, I'd have lots of Japanese phrases and such in my story and that would confuse a lot of people...but I am sorry about that. And thank you, there'll be lots of Naruto/Iruka scenes because he will/has been a big impact in Naruto's life.  
**Iceheart19:** Yeah...that's kind of why I skipped a month ahead to give some breadth there...But Tsunade will make an appearence, I just don't know exactly when...I'm going to somewhat follow the storyline, but not a whole lot.  
**Xaerox:** Thank you so much. I can't believe I made such an idiotic mistake. I try my best to make certain things are spelled right and my grammar's in checkthough I still screw upand what do I do? I spell the title wrong... Yeah, I'm an idiot, hehe.  
**Goth Child of Zyon:** Sorry, I'll try to make them longer, usually somewhere between seven and eleven...but for now they'll probably be slightly shorter... much to my chagrin.  
**Zsych:** Yes. I kind of took your comment there and placed it in this chapter, thank you for that. Also, Jiraiya will take Naruto, just not yet...hehe.  
**Gatogirl1:** Yes, it's supposed to be just following it by maybe a week or so. There hasn't been a chuunin exam yet or anything like that and no, there hasn't been a replacement yet.  
**Fallon:** Sorry, I am definitely continuing this, it's just taking me longer...  
**Everyone Else:** The last three posts were all are you going to continue this so I just decided to stop there and say here "Yes, I am going to continue this." Anyways, as I have said before, I only answer questions though I do read each review, comment, complaint, suggestion and request. I appreciate them and am surprised at the amount of reviews I've gotten for only four chapters. Thank you all.

**Note:** For all who wish to know why this is taking me so long. I am working on _twelve_ stories: Seven ficstwo which have not been posted yetand five originalswhich have all not been posted yet. (Yes, I am a writer, what is the sun? Never heard of that...)This one is taking longer because there is less dialogue and I have to think differently for this one. Sorry, there aren't any 'cutesy' scenes in this chapter, but Naruto needed to get out and the Sasuke decided to follow and...yeah. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for being patient.

Dhampir


	6. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** This idea is taken from _Through Wolf's Eyes.  
Scarred-Nose: Iruka  
Silver Moon: Kakashi  
Raven-Hair: Sasuke  
Kistune: Naruto_

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Six_

Sasuke groaned, reflexively stretching his sore muscles as he opened his eyes, quickly closing them again when the light blinded him. With one hand over his eyes, he blinked back tears and squinted up at the bright light coming from above him. He slowly moved his hand down to his side and propped himself up on one elbow, looking around the white room.

White room.  
Hospital.  
Doctors.  
Nurses.  
Fawning.  
Fan girls.  
Gifts.  
…Torture.

Groaning again, he let his head fall back on the flat pillow and stared up at the white tiled drop ceiling. The stupid ceiling with its Styrofoam tiles that he would count four hundred and twenty three times before he was finally released from the hospital…if he didn't slip out now. Looking at the IV in his right arm covered in tape, Sasuke gripped the base of the needle and pulled it out, clenching his teeth at the burning he felt rushing up his arm.

He slid out of the bed, his muscles protesting painfully and stumbled towards the window. How long had he been out anyway? He was just beginning to open the window when the room began to spin and he felt his feet slipping from beneath him. His arms instinctively moved to stop the fall before he hit his head on the ground, but he was unconscious by the time his body met the floor.

_Shit,_ was the one thought going through his mind as he regained consciousness. Not only did his muscles still ached, but now his back, neck and head were sore. Opening his eyes, he stared up at large sky blue eyes two inches away from his face. Sasuke snarled at Naruto, who just cocked his head, his whisker marks wrinkling as the fox boy frowned down at Sasuke.

The blonde boy was practically laying on top of him, with his ass sitting on Sasuke's stomach, his legs bent and straddling his waist, his hands planted just under his arm pits and the upper portion of his body hovering over his.

"Well…this is interesting." Someone said and both boys looked up at the silver haired jounin. "Yo."

Growling, Sasuke pushed Naruto off of him, "Get off."

The blonde huffed as he stood up and retreated to the window, "Teme." He muttered under his breath, not looking at Sasuke or Kakashi.

Sasuke slowly picked himself up off the ground, darkly scowling at the fox boy, and turned to look at his sensei. "What happened?" He demanded.

"You were attacked by a snake, the poison almost killed you, you were in a coma for about two months and now you're awake." Kakashi said with a yawn.

His eyes widened. "Two months?"

"Hai…"

Naruto grunted and turned around, "Long healing…" he frowned, trying to think of the words. "Snake bad, hurt Sasuke, but Sasuke…s-strong." The blonde looked at Kakashi, silently asking if he spoke correctly. Strong was his new word.

The lazy jounin nodded. "Yup! Right Naruto, you're getting better every day." He suddenly noticed Naruto's guardian wasn't around. "Where's Iruka?"

"Home." The blonde said, looking slightly remorseful.

Kakashi groaned, "Not again! Come on, Sasuke needs to rest anyway, and I know Iruka is going out of his mind with worry by now."

Naruto cocked his head, "…out of mind?"

"It's a saying."

"Sasuke out of mind?"

At hearing his name, Sasuke scowled at the blonde. "No, I'm not out of my mind!" He snapped. "If anyone is, it's you."

"Now, now, Sasuke, you still need to rest and you better remain here or I'll stop all our missions until I think you're fit to go out again." He said cheerfully, "And as your guardian, your well being comes first. So…missions in about three months sounds about right!"

Sasuke gaped, "You can't—"

"I'm you're guardian Sasuke, I can if I want." Then dragging the confused blonde out of the door, Kakashi left his charge alone in the room to rest.

Disgruntled, Sasuke climbed back into bed and brooded, thinking of the most painful ways he could kill Kakashi for making him bedridden and putting him through the torture of fan girls and nurses. Oh, his 'guardian' would pay…

**:-:-:-:-:**

Naruto sighed and followed the lazy jounin in front of him. He didn't like this place, it was too crowded, too easy to be taken by surprise and too noisy. He winced as his sensitive ears picked up the yells and screams of the people hundreds of feet away from him, the noise was even worse close to him. Everywhere he turned there were bodies, curious eyes staring at him as he trialed the silver haired ninja in front of him, and words he couldn't understand being called out. He frowned at the odd language, in two months he had gained a lot of understanding about the humans he lived with—along with finally accepting the name 'Naruto'.

Scarred-Nose had explained to him that his real name would scare the humans and to accept 'Naruto' as a nickname. Only in their burrow would he refuse that name and demand to be called 'Kitsune'. He was fox and no matter what shape he may be, he knew he would always be fox.

He watched as Silver Moon walked towards their den and looked away as Scarred-Nose came running from the den like a mother. He didn't understand it, females were supposed to fawn over their offspring, not males, and yet Scarred-Nose acted more like a mother than a father. "Naruto! I told you not to run off!" He scolded, standing before the annoyed blonde.

"He was with Sasuke again, though how he got passed everyone is beyond me…" Silver Moon said.

"You mean, got passed _you _and it's quite easy when you're _sleeping._"

"Aw, don't be so mean Iruka!" He whined, "I knew where he was heading the whole time _and_ I thought you were with him."

"Don't give me that! You're teaching him to be just as bad as you too, always slipping out the window. Do you think he's not watching?"

"Iruka—"

"And what about those books? I saw you trying to teach him to read by having him look at one of your perverted books!"

"They're really good stories and—"

"Good stories! How can you say reading about sex, at his age, are good stories?"

"But—"

"I don't want to hear another word! Both of you inside, right now!" Scarred-Nose ordered. Naruto growled lowly, but he knew to follow the elder's orders. He understood, somewhat, the difference between a superior and an elder with humans. In his world, anyone who was stronger than him was his superior and there were no elders, but here… here anyone who was his elder was also his superior. He didn't like the hierarchy with humans, there was some semblance of one, but then those with no strength were also his superiors in some way because they were elders.

Trudging inside, he flopped down by the window once more and looked outside. He had even taken to wearing the human's second skin…clothes they called them…and even 'sandals' which restricted his reactions. But Scarred-Nose had said the humans outside would be frightened to see him walking around barefoot and naked and so he wasn't allowed to if he wanted to go outside.

**:-:-:-:-:**

Iruka sighed as he closed the door. What a hectic two months…Without the stoic ninja to entertain the blonde throughout the day, Naruto had ran the two ninjas into the ground with his hyperactivity and questions. The blonde awoke at four or five am every morning, immediately demanding breakfast and attention. If no one got up, he'd go out and catch his own breakfast to eat…raw. So every morning at four, Iruka got up and made the blonde breakfast and then the real fun began.

He had taken off from teaching at the Academy at least until Naruto could understand the basics of what he was—a ninja. So, therefore, he was in charge of teaching the blonde language, mathematics, ninjitsu, history and all the basics of a ninja. Naruto surprisingly caught on quick to the language, though he refused to learn how to write—he couldn't see the reason for it—but he picked up on words the people around him said.

Mathematics he didn't see a reason to either, but Iruka tried anyway, at least to teach him the basics of math. He knew addition and subtraction, but multiplication and higher he refused to even try. History had very little meaning to him since he lived day to day and the day before was just another day he survived, but he did listen—sometimes—and learn about the place he lived and humans. Ninjitsu, as both teachers were surprised, he was quite good at. He understood the weapons, how to hold them, how to throw them and he already knew how to fight and defend. He could even almost hold his own with Iruka. There was no doubt in his mind that when Naruto grew up, he would be a great ninja—if he had the patience.

But that was the main problem with the blonde, he had no patience. When he wanted to do something, he wanted to do it now and not wait. He didn't understand waiting it seemed and wanted to do what he wanted when he wanted, not when it was acceptable. That included when he wanted to disappear into the night as well as disappear to explore the streets of Konoha, putting Iruka through a lot of stress as well as awkward situations…

—**Flashback—**

_Iruka stared open mouth at was, at one time, a market. Now it was just a mess of feathers, knocked over tables, smashed fruit and angry villagers glaring at a confused Naruto. The blonde fox was crouched down in the midst of the mist, one arm caught in some rope and one leg stuck beneath a wreckage of wood and four angry vendors advancing on the blonde._

_Naruto began to yowl, pulling against the rope and trying to break free as the vendors advanced. If he didn't stop struggling, Iruka knew, he would break his wrist or worse, permanently lose his hand. _

_"W-wait!" Iruka yelled, making his way through the throng of observers to Naruto's side. The four vendors stopped and watched as Iruka approached the yowling fox, struggling to get free and run away. "It's all right…" he whispered calmly."Just calm down and I'll help you." _

_Not understanding, Naruto continued to struggle, his panic causing his chakra to spark erratically. Iruka hissed as an array of chakra was released, making the people around him scream with shock and panic as Naruto's chakra continued to release in all directions. Iruka was able to block most of them, but if Naruto didn't stop soon, he would seriously be hurt and he didn't even want to think of the villagers who couldn't protect themselves. _

_The sly blonde had snuck out right beneath both their noses and Iruka had thought he was heading towards the hospital, he could follow Sasuke's scent, but then this mess happened. Most likely he had gotten confused and turned around and ended up destroying the market in fear. _

_"Calm down." He said again, trying to keep his voice calm. Naruto wailed as he continued to pull on rope holding him down. Iruka finally grabbed him around the waist and held him against his body, holding him firmly in place. "Shh…shh…just calm down Kitsune, calm down." He whispered over and over, holding tightly to his charge until the erratic chakra finally slowed and ceased. _

_Iruka looked down at tear filled blue eyes, confusion and fear evident on the whiskered face. Very slowly, Iruka untangled the mess of rope so Naruto could see everything he was doing and then moved his leg out from under the pile of wood. Naruto tried to stand, but fell back to his knees when his right leg wouldn't respond. _

_The chuunin knelt down and picked him up, keeping Naruto close to his side, the villagers slowly coming out of hiding to see what had happened. But when they looked there was only a mess in the road and not a single strand of blonde hair. _

_Iruka had rushed Naruto to the Hokage. It had only been a week since the snake incident. They had gathered from Naruto's hands motions that it was a snake and when they showed him a picture, the feral boy had hissed at the picture and nodded. Yet what they still couldn't grasp was how both boys were still alive. Sasuke was the worst off, the snake had bitten him in the right leg and the poisons running through his body sent him into a stable coma. But it was Naruto who was the mystery. _

_When he and Kakashi had arrived, the jounin had immediately rushed to Sasuke's side, the brunette the obviously the most hurt. But when Iruka had turned to Naruto, who had backed away, he couldn't find a single scratch on him and yet the blonde boy was undoubtedly tired and ragged. Even after taking the two boys to the Hokage and removing the poison from Sasuke's body were the three of them unable to understand exactly what had happened and why Naruto remained unharmed._

—**End of Flashback—**

Iruka looked over at his charge, his slim frame glowing in the growing dusk. In the two months he had cared for the blonde alone, Naruto had filled out and yet still remained lithe as well as muscular. The fox boy had come a long way from the scrawny, half dead child from two months ago, he was smarter, stronger and learning at such a quick pace that he would soon be caught up with the other genin—though in truth, Naruto wasn't even a ninja.

He fought like a fox, claws and fangs bared, the killer instinct evident in his eyes and his moves—God, could the boy move! Neither he nor Kakashi could understand where he learned to move as he did, but he was so graceful and so dangerous. He disappears from sight to return seconds later from any side, he had no pattern. He chose the weakest area in the fight and attacked it. He hunted like a fox, a predator, searching and revealing the weakest point of his prey and bringing it down.

He still couldn't best either of them, but he had dealt them quite a few lucky hits and left his mark. His moves were so erratic as well that he couldn't follow him, though Kakashi still hadn't used his eye yet…but he didn't think it would be long before the lazy jounin was forced to.

Sighing again, he walked up to the blonde fox and clapped his hand on the boy's shoulder. The only reaction he received was a small snarl and a glance before Naruto returned to looking outside. "You want to go?"

"Yes." He growled. "Moon…" he paused, his eyes rising to stare at the barely noticeable moon, "…yowls." He finally decided, he remembered hearing that word earlier.

"Calls?" Iruka suggested. "The moon is telling you go to outside. Calling you out?"

Naruto nodded. "Moon calls. Hunt."

"But you have no reason to hunt anymore."

"What?"

"You don't need to hunt anymore."

His eyes narrowed. "Must hunt."

"Why?"

The blonde shifted uncomfortably, turning around to look up at his guardian. "My way." Then added, "His way," while pointing at his stomach. "Calls, must… out of mind if don't."

Sighing Iruka nodded. He understood somewhat what the blonde was talking about. It was his way, he needed to hunt because it was how he was raised and to be locked inside so much really did make him even harder to handle. He didn't like enclosed spaces, he didn't like crowded streets, he didn't like wasting food and he didn't like not being able to hunt. Last time they had tried to keep him inside without going out once for almost two weeks the blonde had destroyed his room, Sasuke's room as well as the living room. He would always be agitated, lashing out at anyone who touched him or startled him, and would continuously pace the entire mansion, staring outside and trying to find a way out.

When they finally let him out, Naruto disappeared for a fortnight and returned bloody, dirty, smelly and smiling. After that they began letting him wander when he wanted, but only into the woods and only for two days at the most. He was still a liability to Konoha and the stability of his mind and control over Kyuubi was still unknown.

It was still disturbing the way Kyuubi forced his chakra through Naruto's body to heal any wounds. It had happened the day of the market incident, he and Hokage-sama were speaking about the fracture in Naruto's leg when an animalistic scream had halted their talk.

Naruto was arched off the bed, his hands gripping the sheets as his body twisted and turned in unknown pain. All they could do was watch as the red chakra batted against the walls, their own chakra shields and the furniture. Both men were certain Kyuubi was taking over the small boy, but when the blonde finally fell limp onto the bed once more, his body covered in sweat and his leg no longer swollen, it was still Naruto who looked up at them.

The boy's chest heaved with each breath, his eyes looking at them as he moved a hand slowly to wipe the sweat off his forehead. Then, to both the Hokage and Iruka's surprise, Naruto slid off the bed and walked towards them, his eyes darting around for danger. He walked without the slightest limp and from how he stood, this happened often, he wasn't even the slightest bit surprised.

Iruka nodded, bringing his mind back to the present. "Then go."

Naruto stilled, not wanting it to really be true. Usually the chuunin refused to let him go out at night for fear of losing him again. "Go?" He whispered, nodding outside to where the moon and the hunt awaited him.

"Yes, go. But be back by midday."

He cocked his head, "Mid…midday?"

"Hai, when the sun is high in the sky." Iruka said, trying to make it easier for the fox to understand.

"Sun, high." Naruto nodded and then without another word was out the door and into the growing night.

Iruka sighed and turned to look where Kakashi was sitting. From where he was, the lazy jounin could've been sleeping, but Iruka knew better than that. The silver ninja was alert and watching everything around them—including Iruka. "Any news?" He asked as he walked towards him.

Kakashi smiled, "Sasuke's awake and still as grumpy as ever."

"Great, back to our dysfunctional family." Iruka groaned, "A feral boy, a lazy jounin, a dark and brooding boy and me—the only sane one in the house."

"Aw, don't be like that Iruka! It hurts when you're mean!"

"I'm just being truthful." He smirked, passing by to try and sleep. He worried too much about that boy…Naruto had survived years without the help of humans, but he couldn't help but worry. He finally got Naruto back and he didn't want to lose him again, not now… Not ever.

**Reviews: **

**Gatogirl1:** Yeah, they had someone there to take care of it...I'll be going into that in the next chapter...kind of a backflash mixed with the present... I wanted to get to the point where Naruto could speak more and actually wearing clothes before that, but we saw what happened when Naruto went into a crowd! Hehe. I wanted to leave the past two months in kind of a story telling mode to Sasuke...  
**Jonathan:** Well, it's still here! But I heard that too, something about taking away from the anime or blah blah blah...eh, if that happens then I'll just archive my story (should probably do that now) on my own website somewhere.  
**TheTrueSilver:** Actually, I've thought about that and probably will, I just havent' decided which version that will be in, hehe.  
**Fallon:** Happy Belated Birthday! And actually, I started writing the beginning of this fic on your birthday...hope you like it...I don't kinda...hehe.

**Everyone Else:** Thank you for your reviews and comments! I hope you kind of liked this chapter...

**Note:** For all who want to know, sorry it took me so long to update! I'm going in a little circle and this one's somewhere near the bottom since it's one of my newer ones. I will be writing more now that I finished "Living A Lie", but also...I was trying to finish the chapter to my other ficcy first...but... Well, let's just say I'm completely sexed out, I have written so many sex scenes that I'm just...blah. And my current stories were all a choice between a sex scene, a rape scene, a major angst scene or all three.

So! I finally gave up on finishing that chapter (really didn't feel like raping another character) and wrote this one! Sorry again.

Dhampir


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** This is based upon the book "Through Wolf's Eyes."

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Seven_

Kitsune took a deep breath and entered the woods, his real home, his air, his life. He couldn't live within those wooden walls, they were too small and he couldn't smell everything like he could out here. This was where he belonged, not with people but with animals and in the forest.

He looked up at the full moon between the towering branches and shed his clothes and shoes, leaving himself naked and ready for the hunt. He knelt upon the earth and sniffed the ground closely, blue eyes glittering as he looked around the dark forest for unsuspecting prey. The ground held the scents of hundreds of animals and humans alike, but his sensitized nose could pick between those for the most recent scent of prey and follow it.

The scent of rabbit filled his senses and he looked around once more before following the trail silently towards his prey. He could barely keep down his excitement about being able to finally join the hunt once more that he had to force his muscles to relax and watch where he was stepping and how. The feel of decaying leaves, soft dirt and pieces of stick beneath his feet, the slight breeze blowing through his now short hair, hands clenching and unclenching in excitement and the night sounds gave him a sense of belonging stronger than the one he felt with his own 'kind'.

Yet he really didn't belong anywhere. Mating season did not apply to him, other foxes never approached him and so for his entire life he could remember he had been left alone, though that really didn't bother him until he saw the humans. He didn't understand the importance of remember yesterday or thinking of tomorrow, he was a fox and as a fox he must live—that was all that mattered. These humans confused him and yet the ones he saw as his kind weren't his kind at all. He was accepted nowhere and so lived alone, but he couldn't deny that he liked living with the three humans…

Shaking away those thoughts, he focused once more on the hunt, his eyes probing the dark and searching for signs of movement. The rabbit's smell became stronger, filling his being, and he finally crouched down a couple feet away from the rabbit's den. Very slowly he approached the den and sniffed the opening—there was more than one rabbit! Smiling ferally, Kitsune began scratching at the den, his claws sinking into the ground and ripping it away, exposing more of the den until it was mostly uncovered.

He peered down into the hole and frowned in disappointment. Three baby rabbits and the mother was gone…probably out the other hole somewhere else. He lifted one of the baby rabbits, plump and meaty, but barely a challenge with its eyes still closed. Yet food was food and when food was available, he took what he could when he could, never certain when his next meal may be.

He quickly snapped their necks without a noise coming from the babies and then tore them open, eating the little meat available there. Blood covering his hands and lips, Naruto dropped the bodies back into the hole and covered them up, leaving them there for later. He huffed and lifted his nose to sniff the wind, wanting something more satisfying than a couple of baby rabbits.

Smelling nothing, he took to running through the forest, searching and focusing upon the hunt and nothing else. Going through streams, meadows, forests, thickets and swamps, he tracked, stalked and finally came upon a prey he could be satisfied with.

Gazing upon the nimble creature before him, Kitsune fell once more to a crouch and growled deep in his throat. Licking his chapped lips, he slowly crept towards the brown deer, his eyes narrowing and his muscles tensing with each step. His claws dug into the ground and he smirked when he was just a couple feet from the grazing deer.

He took another step, freezing when the deer's ears tilted in his direction, straining for a sound, and watched from the brush as the deer took a step and continued grazing. Powering his hind legs, he snarled and leapt at the deer, his claws sinking into flesh. The deer startled and kicked out, but Kitsune was already on the creature's back, his fangs sinking into the deer's jugular. He swallowed the blood flowing into his mouth to keep breathing and tore at the deer's throat with his claws as the deer continued to struggle beneath his grasp.

Keeping a firm grip on the deer, he waited until the struggling ceased and the great deer fell to its knees before him, dead. Naruto dropped his hands and released the deer, blood dripping from his mouth and down his chest.

He yipped at his kill; the killing nature within him pleased with the hunt, and waited another couple minutes before finally tearing past the tough hide to the meat behind it. His claws sunk into the warm body and the smell of blood filled his nostrils. Folding his legs beneath him, Naruto sunk to the ground beside the deer and feasted upon his kill, eating as much as he could and then dragging it somewhere that was somewhat hidden.

He buried it as best he could before marking it as his own and leaving to find a suitable place to sleep. Stopping by a stream, he washed his hands and mouth as best he could to keep flies away as well as other predators and then set off to find a suitable tree or burrow to sleep in. Before he was taken here, he had his own burrow—a small cave that had been abandoned for years and was just right for him.

Yet he was too far away from it now and so he had to settle for something more open and rely on his senses to save him. After an hour searching, he finally found a suitable tree and climbed halfway up, his claws leaving deep gashes in the wood. He settled down onto a large branch on his stomach, his arms and legs hanging over the side, and yawned.

A full stomach and a safe den was all a fox could want and hope for and he had both. He couldn't snuggle into the tree as he did at home and he shifted a couple times because the bark was rough against his spread legs, but he felt more at home than he had in many moons. He yawned once more, sleep overcoming him, and closed his eyes, the night sounds lulling him to sleep.

Kakashi leaned back into his seat, his legs crossed and his arms crossed behind his head as he watched with his one eye as Sasuke glared at him. Ah, the wonders of having a charge with the mentality of a forty year old and the body of a twelve year old. The boy was just too stiff, almost like he had a stick up his ass…hmm…but what kind of stick…

Sasuke could tell just by the lazy look on his sensei's face that Kakashi was thinking something perverted. Being around the jounin this long let him easily see what Kakashi was thinking, at least for the most part. "Where's Naruto?" He finally demanded.

"Oh? You mean you're worried about our little fox?"

Sasuke scowled, his face darkening dangerously and Kakashi quickly put his hands up in defeat. "What's happened?"

"Well, after we found you two in the forest, we brought you here, of course, and the medic nin here were able to remove the poison from your system. But after that, you refused to wake up and we were left taking care of Naruto while you were sleeping. At this rate you aren't going to make it to the Chuunin Exams Sasuke. You really should sleep less."

_Like it was my choice._ "Kitsune is different."

"Yup! Two months has proven that Iruka really is a teacher. He's gotten Naruto to wear clothes, shoes, go by the name 'Naruto' and even understand the basics of Japanese and English. He's picking up on Japanese easier and we think it's because he spoke it before he was 'lost', but he's still very…carnivorous. We've gotten him to understand that we don't base respect upon strength—well part of it we do—but on age and wisdom, but he doesn't seem to like that idea very much.

"We've had a couple slips…he doesn't like crowds, fruit, surgery treats, anything that isn't water—especially sake—he hates enclosed spaces and would rather spend the night out in the rain than in his own bed. He gets these urges to go out in the middle of the night and disappears for days sometimes—he went out last night, but Iruka told him to be back by noon."

"He understands?"

"Not…completely…Iruka told him to be back when the 'sun is high in the sky' or something like that." Kakashi chuckled. "Unfortunately he's picked up some undesirable language as well; some curse words, though he doesn't understand them, and 'teme'. He really seems to like that word."

"What about ninjitsu?"

The silver jounin raised his eyebrows is mild surprise. "He can actually almost hold his own against Iruka…he has an amazing amount of stamina, his speed is almost inhuman for his age and he holds his kunai as if they were extended claws."

"Chakra?"

"Ah…well…we're having a problem there. He doesn't understand the idea of drawing chakra from the body or how to use it. He actually seems hesitant to try it, I don't know if it's because of the Kyuubi or not, but usually if either of us bring it up, he becomes uninterested or shakes his head and walks away."

"Hn."

"But he'd make a great ninja if he knew how to utilize that chakra available to him…we're going to have a Hyuuga come to your estate and look at Naruto's chakra ways. We don't know if the seal is inhibiting his regular chakra or not, but if it is, we'll have to see if Hokage-sama can reverse it without releasing the Kyuubi."

"And if Kyuubi is released?"

Kakashi didn't answer for a minute before his soft voice uttered, "Then Naruto will have to be destroyed."

Neither said anything for a while, both lost in their own thoughts and what they thought of the fox boy that had come barging into their lives. Everything had changed since Naruto had been found—Sasuke was given a family, Iruka was given back Naruto and Kakashi was given a place. Before Kakashi had just wandered, he always slept at an inn, on the ground, a friend's house or at the most spend a month or two in an apartment. He had never really had a place he could call his own, but since Naruto came, he had been given that—he was now the guardian of Sasuke and lived with the stoic boy and he couldn't deny he liked the feeling of it.

Sasuke had lost his family at eight years of age to his brother, Uchiha Itachi. His big brother he had always looked up to and wanted to be just like. He had trusted wholly in his aniki and never once doubted him…that is until he came home to a home of dead corpses and blood. He had watched as his brother killed their parents, Sharnigan activated and spinning, and found he couldn't do anything to help them, not a thing. Itachi had murdered them savagely and then left him as the sole survivor—leaving him as their sole avenger.

He had taken it upon himself at that age to avenge them and kill his brother, therefore leaving him as the true sole survivor. He had trained endlessly every day, becoming the best in his class and the number one rookie of Konoha—a prodigy. Yet… he had lived alone for the past five years, in a completely quiet and dead house, never a sound except for his and always alone. Five years of no laughter, no parties, no birthdays, no Christmas, no arguments, no singing, no conversation and definitely no sleepovers. He became as cold as his brother and as serious as a jounin. There were no such things as joking, hanging out…friends… They were just in the way, they weren't needed and just a hindrance to his goal, but without them it made quite a lonely life.

Then Naruto came in and suddenly he found his home filled with everything that was a hindrance and yet he found he didn't mind it. He didn't mind Iruka's singing as he cooked, Kakashi's jokes, Naruto's odd nature and he found even more that he felt more alive with them there since the Uchiha Massacre.

Then there was Iruka. The gentle Chuunin that was better as a teacher than a ninja because he liked to teach and liked children. He had lost Naruto when he was only five, his charge that he had come to love and adore as a son, to the wild and dealt with the loss in the only way he could—forget him. Yet he never could forget Naruto, he knew it was better to forget a son he never had than to grieve for him every day, but Naruto was hard to forget…

The rambunctious child had wormed his way into his heart and left an impression on his soul even after years of being 'dead'. Naruto had always been a hyperactive child with a strong spirit and a determination to prove everyone wrong. He had been hated, strongly, even at a tender age of five, but he never let them see just how much they hurt him…only Iruka saw.

He had held the small boy as he cried and cried, asking why he was hated, why no one played with him and called him a monster or demon. And all he could do was hold the blonde and rock him back and forth as he cried himself to sleep because no one was to know what as in him…

Then came the day he was told Naruto was leaving. A select group of ninjas had been appointed to watching Naruto and to take the blonde somewhere where he would be treated rightly and no one would know about the Kyuubi. Just a small handful of jounin and chuunin that were going to make a home elsewhere with the small blonde—these select shinobi had never minded what Naruto was and had seen the crying boy behind the mask. They came and took him away from Iruka, the last time he ever saw the blonde.

Yet he now had another chance to have his son back along with another son—Sasuke. Two sons, two strong, willful and future great ninjas that he could be proud of along with Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed and finally got to what he needed to. "What happened that night? We know you were attacked, but no one can understand how you two survived an attack by a snake like that and even more, how Naruto came out completely unscathed."

"He…" Sasuke looked out towards the window, pausing, and finally muttered, "He changed."

"Changed?"

"…It was Kyuubi."

"Kyuubi?" Kakashi demanded.

"Kyuubi rescued us. The snake attacked us and Naruto…saved my life," he said grudgedly, "and then turned to the snake. His claws were longer and sharper, those whisker marks were darker and his canines were almost fangs." He paused again, refusing to look at Kakashi. "At first I just thought it was weird, but Naruto's eyes had changed…they were red."

Kakashi sighed and leaned back, "So Kyuubi came out."

"I wasn't conscious long after, but when I saw his eyes again, they were blue and it looked like Naruto was in control again."

"But it was still Kyuubi who rescued you two and it tells us why Naruto came out unharmed. Kyuubi is a natural and vicious killer so he knew how to take care of the snake when Naruto didn't, but this is dangerous." Another said and both shinobi turned to look at the Hokage.

Kakashi stood and bowed his head respectfully to the old man, "Hokage-sama."

"I had just come in to see how Sasuke was doing as well as question him about Naruto, but it seems one of my questions has already been answered." Sandaime turned to Sasuke and smiled, "How do you feel?"

"Better." He replied coolly.

"That's good to hear. Now, I must ask, Sasuke, do you feel in any way threatened or in danger with Naruto living in your home? It is true we want Naruto to return to us and we want to learn what exactly happened when he and the caravan was attacked, but your safety comes first and foremost. Naruto has been dead to us for eight years, we no longer know him nor see him as the same boy he once was. So, has he attacked you in any way?"

Sasuke barely hid his anger and surprise at the Sandaime's words, but he answered curtly, "No."

"Has he attacked Kakashi or Iruka?"

"No."

"Has he shown any signs of losing control over Kyuubi?"

"…No."

"Do you feel threatened or in danger in your own home?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "No."

The Hokage nodded, sighing, and turned to Kakashi. "You know the rules Hatake-san, if—for any reason—Naruto is seen as a threat or unstable, he is to be killed." Then he left, leaving the two of them alone.

Kakashi stared curiously at Sasuke, but remained silent as Sasuke refused to answer to unsaid question. He smiled and patted his charge's head—much to Sasuke's annoyance—"I'll head home and tell Iruka-sensei that Naruto is still going to live. He may not be saying anything, but he's been worrying over it for two months now. He lost Naruto once already, I don't think he could lose him again."

Iruka stood at the door, his arms crossed, a scowl on his face and one foot tapping the ground angrily. Before him stood a smelly, bloody, happy, _naked_ blonde boy who was looking up at him with large blue eyes uncertain of what had made the ninja so irate.

It was true Naruto had returned on time and that was all Iruka had told him to do, but he didn't think the blonde boy would return naked and with a half eaten, dirty carcass of a deer in tow. He did _not_ want that in the house. "Drop it." He said, pointing at the deer.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at the deer and then looked back at Iruka in shock. "What?"

He pointed at the deer. "_That_ stays outside."

"No." The blonde said immediately.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

His lips pressed tightly together, he repeated, "NO."

Iruka sighed, this was almost like when Naruto was two, only difference was he was thirteen now. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and leaned against the door frame and finally used his trump card. "Sasuke will be mad if you bring that in."

"Mad?"

"Angry."

Naruto blinked.

"Angry." Iruka said, this time growling. "I'm angry."

Comprehension dawned on the blonde and grumpily he dropped the deer, already pouting. "Hunt good." He whined.

Seeing the blonde would be pouting all day, Iruka finally gave in and directed Naruto to take the deer around the back. He grabbed a rope and then tying it around the two hind legs of the deer, his nose wrinkling at the smell, and dragged the deer up into the air, knotting the rope around the trunk of the tree.

Naruto watched with avid curiosity as Iruka hefted the deer carcass into the air and left it swinging in the air, its face staring down at him. Maybe the humans did have some things to offer… "Good." He said, nodding his head once.

Iruka clapped his hands and then turned to the boy before him. "Bath."

The blonde knew that word very well and his face immediately wrinkled with disgust. He didn't like baths, it washed away his scent and Iruka made him wash with a pink block that made him smell like flowers. He didn't like it.

The chuunin almost laughed at the look on Naruto's face, he knew all too well that Naruto hated baths, but he was not going to have a smelly boy stinking up the entire house just because he didn't like it. "Come on Naruto." Putting his hand on the boy's shoulder, he steered them back towards the house and into the bathroom. "Tell me about the hunt?" He asked as he began filling the tub.

Blue eyes lit up with excitement and Naruto began to babble incoherently about the hunt, exaggerated hand motions and growls and yips coming from the boy. Iruka just nodded and watched, picking up what words he could and laughing inwardly at Naruto's antics. It was almost as he once was—except that then he wasn't speaking in complete gibberish, at least to human ears.

Naruto was still 'talking' when the bath was ready and Iruka didn't even give him a chance to retaliate as he pushed the unsuspecting and hyper blonde into the bath, water splashing about and drenching both of them.

Iruka, used to it, just sat down next to the bath and handed Naruto a wash cloth and soap, expecting the blonde wash himself again. They had only successfully done this twice, but he was hoping for a third time. He sighed when the fox boy began to yowl and cry, but at least he didn't try to climb out of the tub this time.

After a couple minutes, Iruka grabbed the soap and lathered the washcloth, once more handing it to the blonde and waiting patiently as Naruto stared at it. "No getting out until you're clean." Iruka warned.

Finally a tanned hand reached out and grabbed the cloth, Naruto growling as he did so, and began to wash away the bark, grime and blood from his skin. Iruka sat back and watched as Naruto sniffed the soap and watching with slight fascination as the soap washed his skin clean and filled the tub with a layer of bubbles.

Once he was lathered, Iruka pushed him down until his neck was at the water and ran his hands over the lithe body, washing off the soap. Naruto bit his lip, as he always did, and tensed at being so close to the water's edge. He had seen enough animals killed by water and going beneath the water meant he couldn't breathe.

Iruka slowly helped Naruto sit back up and then grabbed the shampoo, harshly cleaning the blood and dirt out of his once blonde hair. Right now it was more of a light brown and he didn't even want to think of what else was in his hair. Naruto growled lowly every time Iruka scraped too harshly at his scalp, but for the most part he just sat there with his arms crossed, his bottom lip jutted out in a pout and his eyes closed in water up to his torso.

Grabbing a cup, Iruka filled it up with clean water—the other water now murky—and tilted Naruto's head back slightly to pour the water through his hair. He repeated this five or six times until the soap was gone and then took the wash cloth and scrubbed at his face, grimacing at the dirt coming off.

Once he was certain Naruto was as clean as he could get, Iruka helped the blonde boy stand and wrapped a towel around the shivering form. He dried him off as Naruto continued to whimper because of having to have a bath and then told him to go dress in some clothes.

Naruto came down a little later dressed correctly and stood before Iruka, waiting for the chuunin to inspect him—as they did every day—to make sure he dressed correctly. Iruka nodded appraisingly and smiled at the blonde who had correctly put on a baggy black shirt and a blue pair of lounge pants. "Good job!" He said happily, Naruto smiling back at him before coming to look over his shoulder at what Iruka was cooking.

"Hot." Iruka warned. Remembering the first time Naruto had reached out to taste the food, burning his hand and crying over it for an hour, even after the Kyuubi had healed his hand. The blonde nodded and retreated a couple steps, he had burned himself more than once, thinking if he approached it from a different way it wouldn't burn him. He quickly learned the stove was off limits and something for humans, not foxes.

Light humming filled the house and Iruka sighed as the door shut and Kakashi entered the kitchen. Two months and the silver jounin had finally begun using the door… once a week. Dressed in his normal black and gray outfit, Kakashi smiled and waved, "Yo. I see Naruto's back." He said, patting Naruto on the head like he had done to Sasuke.

Naruto scowled at the ninja and left to sit down at the table, waiting as Iruka finished whatever he was making. Kakashi looked over Iruka's shoulder, leaning a little closer than needed, and snagged a piece of meat to taste.

"Kakashi!" Iruka scolded, hitting the silver jounin lightly on the forehead with a wooden ladle. "Wait until supper."

Laughing, he nodded and backed away. "Okay, okay, but it's good! What is it?"

"Oh, um…" Iruka said, blushing from the compliment, "just something I whipped up."

"Well, you can whip me up anything anytime." He said and Iruka knew he was grinning beneath that mask before he retreated to sit at the table with Naruto.

Not answering, Iruka quickly turned away and finished dinner and set it out with rice. "Naruto, no hands." He said before picking up his chop sticks and eating his dinner.

The blonde fox huffed, but picked up the fork—a lot easier than chop sticks—and trying the food, sniffing at it for spices before tasting it. With a nod, he set into eating his meal in record time as the other two ate slowly and enjoyed it.

"So Kitsune…" Kakashi said after a minute of silence while Naruto was still engrossed with his food, "how was the hunt?"

Iruka groaned, "Don't ask him that!"

But Naruto had heard him and looked up, eyes sparkling with excitement once more. Iruka sighed and shook his head, watching every now and then as Naruto began his tale again about his hunt, leaving the silver jounin completely stumped in what he was saying except that it was a good hunt.

Even when the sun began to set, they were still at the table, Naruto talking animatedly about his hunt and showing them how he crept along and leapt at the deer. Then he dragged Kakashi out to point up at the deer that he had killed and began once more about his hunt.

Iruka laughed when Kakashi looked back at him, his expression begging for the chuunin to come save him from hearing all about the hunt again, but he just shook his head and began clearing the table. It was his own fault for asking…

Dhampir  
Page 9  
5/6/05

**Reviews:  
**  
**Wolvesm0on:** Yeah, he'll eventually be made into a genin, once he gets a better grasp upon things of a human nature.  
**Bhodi li:** Thanks about the "Through Wolf's Eyes", yeah that's the book I based it upon. Flashbacks will be spread about, there'll be things that seem to trigger them. I don't know yet if anyone will try to kill him again and Sasuke will probably not protect him forever, but 90 of the time, hehe.  
**Scorn Silverstar:** I'm going to be splitting it into a yaoi version and my normal version later, but just not yet.  
**Jannie135:** Yup! You found a typo, thanks! And "Through Wolf's Eyes" is a novel, a really good one.  
**Demon-flying:** Sasuke will be laid up for about a week or two...since he's been in a coma and has had venom flowing through his body, his muscles will beatrophied somewhat so he'll have to work that up again.  
**Wraith:** Next chapter I'll be introducing Neji into the picture and probably Sakura. Also, in...chapter...er...I can't remember, it says that Kakashi's training Sakura alone, she'll be showing up more in a chapter or two.  
gatogirl1: Thanks! I'll look for them more...yeah, I wrote Chapter Six in a major hurry, I was going home that weekened and wrote it in two or three hours so I didn't really check for mistakes.  
**Note:** Someone asked me to send them the unedited version of this...I can't find your post, but there was no unedited version or another version as of yet and therefore I couldn't send it. Sorry...I really don't know what you're talking about...

Also, sorry this took so long to update. I've finally made a list and write according to seniority because I was neglecting some. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and until next update.

Dhampir


	8. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note: **This is based upon the novel "Through Wolf's Eyes".

_Raven-Hair_—Sasuke  
_Scarred-Nose_—Iruka  
_Silver Moon_—Kakashi  
_Kitsune—_Naruto

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Eight_

"Kitsune! Kitsune, come out from there." Iruka demanded, waiting impatiently outside of the blonde youth's room. "Come out right now or no dinner!"

That made the boy move, seconds later a disgruntled Naruto appeared before the door, wearing nothing but a loose pair of black boxers. Even the smallest pair was too small for his thin frame—years of malnutrition and starvation had stunted his growth as well as altered his form from filling out like it should. Though he had fat and he wasn't ever hungry like he once was, he never filled out and his muscles stayed lean and slightly defined.

With his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, Naruto made a face at his teacher, friend and guardian before huffing at him. "What?" He asked, his voice full of annoyance.

"Don't you take that tone with me young man." Iruka scolded, making the blonde look down. "We have guests who wish to meet you and you will be nice."

Naruto frowned, "G-gueasts?"

"Guests."

"Guests." He repeated.

The older man smiled, "Good job!"

"What guests?"

"People who don't live with us, but are here."

The look of concentration of his face made him irresistibly cute and Iruka couldn't help but smile softly as the blonde fox chewed on his bottom lip. "Me not guests?" He finally asked, his blue eyes looking up at Iruka.

"Right, you're not a guest."

"Who?"

"Come downstairs and you'll see."

Naruto nodded and then headed down the hall to the steps, but instead of going down like Iruka thought, the fox crouched on the ground and peeked around the side. With his advanced eye sight he could see the two men standing in the living room, both looking rigid and ready to leave at a moment's notice, and sniffed the air hesitantly. Their scent was similar to each other and he couldn't help but wonder why two related males were together. Then again, humans had such strange ways…

"The taller man is the head of the Hyuuga household, Hyuuga Hiashi." Iruka said, looking down at the blonde curiously. "And the other, standing to his right, is Hyuuga Neji, a genius by our standards."

He frowned at the odd words he didn't comprehend, but remained silent as he studied them. He knew better than to make a sound when hunting and studying prey, but these prey were different. There was something wrong with their eyes…but from where he was he couldn't tell exactly what and they were poised to attack even though they looked relaxed. "Guests?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes."

He harrumphed and then disappeared down the stairs in a flash of speed, jumping over the railing and in front of the two men. He heard the whirl of a blade long before dodging it and landed on all fours in a ready crouch, growling. His right side of his lip was curled to show his fang and his eyes remained focused on the two men while he growled low in his throat.

Naruto watched closely as three more blades came towards him, his eyes taking in the motion, the curve and the speed of the weapons before his body sprang into action. He bent his body low to the floor, his forehead almost touching, and waited half a second for the first to pass over him before pushing off the floor and flipping back to dodge the second. He could hear the third just behind him and fell back into his crouch, his eyes focusing once more on the two Hyuugas.

"STOP!" Iruka yelled as Neji released another blade. The chuunin teacher caught it in one hand and stood in front of Naruto protectively. "Neji-kun, I said stop. He's not dangerous, just startled. He came down here to inspect you, not fight you."

Naruto looked at them from behind Iruka's legs, his anger and fear suddenly replaced by curiosity, and crept out slowly until he was crouched before the two men. His eyes widened when he saw the pupiless eyes staring back at him and he looked back and forth between the men before hissing at them and retreating. What weird humans were these? He pointed at their eyes and said "Wrong," to Iruka.

"No, no, no. Their eyes are like that Naruto. Just like you have blue eyes and I have brown, the Hyuuga family has white eyes."

The blonde frowned, not understanding, but shrugged and walked away to look out the window. He took his normal place on the window sill and said over his shoulder without looking at them, "When see Sasuke?"

"We'll see him later today, but first I need you to come back over here Naruto."

Not liking that idea, Naruto stuck his bottom lip out and kept his back to them, a disrespectful movement in animal terms. "Why?"

"Because they need to check you."

"What?"

"They need…to look at you."

Neji watched the odd banter between the two ninjas, if he could count that fucked up kid to his left as a ninja. Both he and his uncle were looking at the odd blonde, uncertain of what was wrong with him, and watched as Iruka tried to explain in simplistic terms what he needed…what was his name again? …Naruto to do.

A stray piece of hair tickled his eye, but he ignored it as best he could and continued to watch as Iruka approached the blonde cautiously. They had been called over here to look at a ninja's chakra, though no other information had been gathered, and he concluded the 'ninja' had to be the boy before him. From the first moment he saw him, he knew there was something wrong with him, but he had yet to look at his chakra… But…there was something bothering him about this boy.

He had first thought the blonde had been an intruder and immediately reacted, throwing shiruken and kunai at the intruder without pause, but without the least bit of chakra, the blonde had dodged all his attacks gracefully and perfectly. He didn't touch a single blade, didn't block in any way and yet he was still able to dodge them all. Neji searched his mind, but the only blonde he knew was that annoying Sasuke fan girl Ino. There was no other blonde in the village…unless they had been hiding Naruto…but what reason would they have for that?

"Naruto!" Iruka growled, standing a foot away from the blonde with his hands crossed over his chest. "I said they want to look at you, I know you understand me and so if you don't get your ass moving, I will personally do it for you!"

The last thing Neji was expecting Naruto to say was, "What 'ass'?"

The chuunin groaned exhaustedly and raked his hair back. "Just let them look at you."

Harrumphing again, Naruto stalked back over to where the Hyuuga continued to stand and sunk to his feet before them, glaring at them. "Look." He said, his voice rough.

His uncle nodded and breathed deep before saying, "Byakugan."

The blonde fox jumped back at the sudden burst of chakra and hissed, falling into his defense crouch and watching the two Hyuugas warily.

"Neji…" said in an awed whisper.

The younger Hyuuga immediately activated his blood limit, looking deep into the eyes of the blonde before him. "Uncle, what is this?" He whispered, looking at the conflicting chakra coursing through the blonde.

"Two chakra systems…? This is impossible!" The older Hyuuga looked up and down Naruto's system, trying to understand what he saw there. "It seems that the main chakra has been trapped or blocked by something while that…alien chakra stems from his abdomen."

"Iruka-sensei?"

The chuunin sighed and looked down at Naruto with a soft smile. "This is Uzumaki Naruto."

"I thought he was killed!" The older Hyuuga exclaimed. "News reached us that Uzumaki Naruto and the others had been ambushed and there were no survivors."

"There was one…" Iruka looked at Neji and then Naruto before saying, "Neji-kun, do you mind watching Naruto for an hour or so while your uncle and I talk?"

"I serve the Main House, if it is asked of me, I shall." Neji said quietly before approaching the blonde boy, his eyes still taking note of his chakra system.

"Don't take your eyes off of him Neji-kun, he'll slip out of your sight if you do, even for a second." He warned. "And Kitsune, you listen to Neji," he added, pointing to the Hyuuga.

Snorting, the younger Hyuuga crossed his arms and muttered, "Come on Uzumaki."

Naruto frowned and looked to Iruka. "Uzimaki?"

"Uzumaki. That's your last name Naruto."

"What?"

"Uzumaki Naruto is your whole name."

He didn't completely understand, but just said, "Oh," and stood to follow Neji.

"Be good." Iruka warned, but he already knew there were going to be problems by the way Naruto was grinning.

Immediately when the fresh wind and sun hit his face, Naruto stretched and looked up at the sun, an honest grin on his face. He loved these days when the sun shined and the wind carried the scent of many prey, it was days like these he spent lazing around beneath tree branches and lightly hunting until sunset.

Looking at his new companion, the blonde studied him curiously. The young man wore a tan short sleeved shirt and black shorts and blue shoes. His right leg was wrapped in those white weird things Silver Moon put on him when he fell through the window. What did Scarred-Nose call him again? Banages? Bandegies? Bandages! His blue eyes looked closely at the leg, maybe he had injured himself…? But he didn't smell blood on him, or at least coming from the leg, nor did he smell the staunch scent of decaying flesh.

Naruto shrugged and continued his observation. He wore that same metal and cloth thing across his head as Scarred-Nose, Silver Moon and even Raven-Hair wore, but there were humans that didn't wear them either and he didn't completely understand why some did and some didn't. He had thought upon this before and decided that it had to be because their sense of smell was so dull they had to have something else tell them apart and so they wore those metal-cloth things.

Moving closer, the blonde fox crept around Neji, who was watching him with those weird eyes, and sniffed the pack tied around his waist and settled on the back of his left hip. He began to reach towards it to see what it was when Neji spun around and grabbed his wrist, his eyes narrowed and a scowl on his face.

"What are you doing?"

Growling, Naruto tore his hand away and glared back at him. "Teme."

Neji snorted and turned away, "What an idiot." He muttered before turning back to question the blonde, but instead of bright, curious blue eyes, he was met with an empty field. "Shit." Iruka wasn't exaggerating when he said not to take his eyes off the blonde, he disappears so silently and quickly that he'd make a great thief or even assassin. He scanned the field and surrounding trees once before activating his blood line again and searching for the two chakras.

He located it almost a half mile away into the woods and took after it, there was no way he was letting him out of his sight again. Taking to the trees, Neji kept a constant lock on Naruto's chakra using the Byakugan as a beacon, but it still took him a good half hour to catch up with Naruto's increasing pace. Who the hell was this boy? He could dodge and sense objects without the slightest hint of chakra, he could run like the wind without strengthening his legs with chakra and within him laid not one but _two_ separate chakras.

Neji wasn't surprised when he found Naruto waiting for him beside a stream. The blonde fox was crouched before a stream, staring into the clear water, and cocking his head at something there. He glanced over his shoulder once at Neji and then returned to stare at the stream, a frown on his face and curiosity in his eyes. Neji came closer slowly and peeked over Naruto's shoulder, staring down at what he had found.

"Mine." Naruto said immediately before Neji could even see what it was. He had found it and so it was his and no one was going to take it away from him.

Neji reached over him and pulled out the head band lying in the stream. From the looks of it, it wasn't very old and barely had any scratches on it. The Konoha symbol was etched on the front and the blue fabric wasn't even ripped, so someone must've forgotten it on purpose or disposed of it for some reason.

"Mine." Naruto said again, reaching for it.

"No, you're not a ninja."

The blonde stuck his bottom lip out in a pout and huffed. "I find, mine."

"This is earned, not found." Neji said sternly. "This shows you are now more than a citizen of Konoha, one destined to protect it and its people as well as the Hokage. It is only given to those who deserve and have strived for it, not to someone like you."

Naruto didn't understand half of what Neji had said, but he did get the point: It wasn't his. And he didn't like that outcome. "Mine! Mine! Mine! MINE!" He screamed, "No yours, mine! I find, mine! Give." He demanded, holding out his hand. Iruka had been teaching him not just to take things he wanted, but to ask for it first, something unknown to foxes.

"No."

The growl that came from his throat sounded anything but human and Neji could've sworn that those weird whisker marks had darkened. The Hyuuga tensed at the sudden chakra surrounding the blonde and leapt back when Naruto disappeared from his sight.

"What the fuck?" He whispered, searching for any signs of the blonde around him. A crack of a twig alerted him just in time to dodge Naruto as he came from his left side, so fast that Neji could barely see him. Readying himself with four kunai, Neji stilled again and listened for any signs from the blonde. "Byakugan!" Looking around with new eyes, he could see the pulse of chakra coming from Naruto and dodged him once more, but the blonde was becoming too fast. Even if he could see the chakra, it moved too quickly for him to pinpoint and counterattack it.

"Mine!" A guttural voice yelled.

Neji turned and gasped quietly at the claws just inches away from him. He put his hands up to block him and closed his eyes, waiting for the impact that never came. Instead he felt hands wrap around his torso and pull him away, those claws ripping into the tree that was just feet behind him. The young Hyuuga opened his eyes and looked up at Kakashi, the older ninja staring at Naruto.

The blonde was panting heavily, his body covered in sweat as if he'd been training for hours though it had only been a couple minutes. Crouched on the ground, Neji could see he was struggling to stand up and he kept shaking his head and growling as if talking to someone.

"Kitsune." Kakashi said softly and the blonde stilled. "Calm down…"

"He wants out." Naruto whispered, finally looking up at them with blue eyes despite his elongated claws and fangs.

"Who?" Neji asked, uncertain if the boy was stable or not.

"Kyuubi."

"Iruka-san, why is that monster back here?"The older Hyuuga immediately demanded.

"He's not a monster, he's just a child who's been lost to us."

"That thing is not Naruto, it's…it's something else and we can't have something like that endangering our village—our children."

Iruka sighed, "I know why you're worried and I understand it, but Naruto survived that ambush and Sasuke found him in the woods over two months ago. He's learning quickly and he'd make a great ninja—"

"Ninja! You can't be a ninja if you aren't even human Iruka-san."

"Naruto is human, but you're not here to discuss Naruto's mental state Hiashi-sama, Hokage-sama has already looked into that. What we need you for is to know about the two chakra systems he has. Naruto refuses to use his chakra and balks at the idea of it. Does the Kyuubi block his own chakra or in any way affect it?"

"Of course it does, Kyuubi's chakra is stronger and different from our own and it's been placed inside that boy and locked away, but that doesn't mean he can't tap into that power. His own chakra is erratic because of the stronger one trying to dominate his body and looking at his chakra gates, it seems while barely any chakra is freely flowing through his body, more than half is the Kyuubi's own chakra, which is suffocating Naruto's."

"Then how do we stop that?"

"The seal had to have changed…I don't know when or how, but I'd be certain that the seal has changed since it was created. I still remember it from when he was just a small child, but he could use his chakra then without any problems and Kyuubi's chakra remained locked.

"You'll have to fix it so Kyuubi's chakra will only be used when Naruto wants it to be used, but how to do that is beyond me, Iruka-san." The Hyuuga stood up and shook his head. "You've endangered yourself and others by bringing that boy back here, he was better off dead and forgotten."

"Naruto never should've been sent away in the first place, Hyuuga-sama. He is where he belongs once more, here with us."

He sighed and shook his head, "Just remember this, that boy is just a shadow of the one you loved and nothing more."

"Kyuubi?" Neji whispered, "As in Kyuubi Kitsune, the one that the Fourth Hokage died destroying?"

Kakashi gave that lazy eye smile and clasped his hand on Neji's shoulder. "Yup! So now you know and you're not going to tell anyone, right?"

The Hyuuga didn't even respond, instead he kept his eyes trained on Naruto who was still fighting against the fox demon. The blonde dug his hands into the ground and growled deep in his throat, warning the fox to back off. His claws shrank back into nails and his canines slowly disappeared back into his mouth as the whisker marks became just small scars once more, but the blonde continued to growl.

Naruto pushed himself off the ground; his head hung low, and grabbed the closest tree to steady himself. Neji's eyes widened at the moving mark on his stomach, the spiral moved slowly as the four elephants at each corner glowed as if forcing the spiral into submission. He watched as the seal slowly began to disappear, the black ink sinking into his skin and leaving not even a scar behind, and looked into the blonde's eyes to find them clear and weary.

"Be thankful you didn't meet Kyuubi, Neji. He's not one you want to meet." Kakashi said before crossing the distance between the blonde and himself. Naruto looked up at him curiously and didn't complain when the jounin picked him up and cradled him to his chest. Kakashi straightened, Naruto secure within his arms, and looked at Neji once before turning to return to the Uchiha Mansion.

The Hyuuga remained still as the two of them disappeared into the trees, his hand still clenching tightly to the headband that he had all but forgotten. He lifted the limp object higher to see and then turned his head back to where the blonde had stood. Four deep and jagged claw marks lay engraved in the tree, the remnants of that chakra still visible and reminding him just how close he had come to death.

Who was this boy? Uzumaki Naruto: human, fox, demon, child… Where did one such as he belong in this world?

Dhampir  
Page 7  
6/17/05

Hey everyone, sorry for the very long update! My computer broke and then wouldn't connect to the internet so now I have to go somewhere else to upload stories and don't have much time to do so. So please, please forgive me.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, from now until the end, it should become more interesting with more characters and other things. Sorry again for the long update, later!

Dhampir

**Later Note:**_ I'm very sorry, I thought this posted and apparently it didn't so now I'm posting it...hopefully. I swear, I posted this on the seventeenth! I really, really mean it so please forgive me again._


	9. Chapter Nine

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** The idea for this story came from _Through Wolf's Eyes,_ a wonderful book (which is actually a series now…) by **Jane Lindskold**.

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Nine_

"Uchiha-san! You open this door right now." The nurse demanded from outside Sasuke's room, annoyance prominent in her voice.

"Fuck no." He muttered as he pulled his shirt over his head and slipped his arms inside the sleeves. Two weeks was well beyond the time he needed to recover and there was no fucking way he was going to stay here another night. Having the constant visits from those fan-girls of his, the nurses and doctors fawning over him all day and night and then therapy sessions that barely strengthened his little toe were driving him slowly to insanity—the only difference in his days was Naruto and Kakashi's random visits. Thinking about the blonde, Sasuke wondered why he hadn't seen him lately, when he first awakened, Naruto was there almost everyday even if only for a couple minutes and now a week later he had barely seen him twice.

"If you don't open this door in ten seconds, Uchiha-san, I'll call for a shinobi to do it for me." She threatened—typical civilian.

"Go ahead and send them, I'll be gone by that time." He said before throwing the window open and slipping onto the roof. Breathing deep of the cool evening air, he closed his eyes momentarily before slipping down the shadow of the roof and jumping to the next. Time to go home.

Kakashi held Naruto against his chest, just as he had done months ago when they almost lost Sasuke, and slipped through the bedroom window. He laid Naruto down on Sasuke's bed—the blonde fox refused to sleep elsewhere—and paused as he covered the exhausted boy with a blanket. Brushing back his blonde spikes, Kakashi couldn't believe how attached he had become to the fox in such a short amount of time. He had refused to ever become attached to anyone that could be used against him ever again, but even though he had said that and meant it with all his heart, he now had four people he cared deeply for.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, the silver nin silently slipped from the room and made his way downstairs where Iruka sat on the couch, his face hidden in his hands. Kakashi frowned at the usually flustered chuunin looking so…deep in thought and slowly came to stand before him. "Iruka-san?"

Iruka startled at the soft voice and looked up into a gray eye. "Hatake-kun…"

"Well, don't be too enthusiastic about seeing me." He muttered.

"I'm sorry! I-I just…Hyuuga-san said some things about Naruto a-and…"

"Let me guess, said something insensitive and completely off basis that has you thinking he might be right."

"But he _is_ right Hatake-kun—"

"Kakashi," he interrupted, "Ka-kash-i, not Hatake-kun, but Kakashi, Iruka-san."

Flushing, Iruka nodded and repeated, "He is right Kakashi-kun, the Naruto we have now isn't my Naruto—that…that fox up there is Kitsune, not Naruto."

"He's lived the past couple years completely alone except for maybe the occasional human passing by, but we both know how quietly he walks…even an Anbu would have trouble hearing or even finding him. He blends into the shadows and sneaks away just like a fox, and he may eat like one and act like one, but he's still a boy Iruka-san. He's just a thirteen year old boy who knows nothing else except how to survive."

"But he isn't my little boy anymore!"

"So that makes him unreal? That makes him dead?"

Iruka hid his face in his hands and shook his head vigorously, "No! I love Kitsune, just as much as I loved Naruto, but…when I look at that face and those eyes, I want to believe he is Naruto, _my_ Naruto and that he came back to me."

"He won't come back Iruka-san, he can't." Kakashi whispered before standing up and leaving the compound. The Hokage needed to know about Naruto's sudden change and Kyuubi's slight control, as well as what he learned from Iruka's conversation earlier. He wasn't a retired Anbu for nothing, right?

Kitsune blinked his eyes, slowly sitting up in the bed and quickly scanning his surroundings for any predators. After a moment of silence, he—slightly—relaxed his body and slipped from the soft bed, curious to know when he had climbed into the bed in the first place. He huffed as he tried to recall what had happened, but all he came up with was a sickening feeling in his stomach and that weird human with no eyes. He couldn't understand how they saw without eyes, but he didn't know how to ask that yet.

Standing, the blonde fox glided soundlessly across the floor and into the hall. He once more scanned his surroundings before continuing through the house, frowning as Scar-Nose didn't appear before him. Every time he woke up, Scar-Nose was there within a couple minutes at least, but not this time…this time the entire house was quiet and no one was here.

A small wave of panic enveloped him, he had felt this before—

_Flashback_

"_Iruka-nii-san!" Naruto practically yelled as he tumbled into the house. "Iruka-nii-san, guess what? I made a friend!" But only silence answered him. The blonde frowned at the empty house; he had never come home to an empty house, Iruka made certain of that. "Nii-san?" He whispered, blue eyes searching for his only family. _

_Dropping his books, the five year old boy ran through the house, trying to find the one person who he truly mattered to, but the older nin was no where in sight. "Where are you?" He screamed, tears beginning to track down his face. "Nii-san! Where'd you go?" _

_Naruto fell to the ground in a crying heap, sobs filled the silent room as the pain in his heart grew. Iruka had left him, just like everyone else, and now he was all alone, completely and utterly alone again. He had spent the first two years of his life alone, not knowing kindness or even love until he met Iruka and when the young chuunin had taken him beneath his wing, he learned what love was. It had taken months to get Naruto to where he was now and to actually trust him and understand why he was being nice. He had thought it was because Iruka cared for him…_

_Had he just done this so the betrayal would be graver? So it would be more damaging than if he'd never known kindness? But why...Why would his nii-san do this to him after so many years without ever showing him anger or contempt? _

_Curling into a ball, Naruto hugged his knees and cried harder, barely whispering "Nii-san" again and again. He wanted someone to love him, to want him, to care for him, to worry about him and to be with him. He never wanted to be alone again, never, never, never. _

_Warm arms scooped Naruto up and pulled him against a hard chest. "Naruto? What's wrong?" Iruka asked, "Did you get hurt? Did someone hurt you? Naru-chan, what happened?" _

_Blurry-eyed, Naruto looked up at Iruka's concerned expression before wrapping his arms around the older man's neck and holding him tight. "Nii-san!" He cried as Iruka began rubbing his back soothingly. _

_Carrying him to the couch, Iruka sat down wearily and held the blonde close, silently wondering what had happened. He crooned to the boy and continued to rub his back as he rocked back and forth, Naruto holding onto him as if he were his lifeline. He waited until the tears subsided and Naruto relaxed in his arms before asking, "What happened?" _

_"I-I thought you left me…" He sniffled, "You weren't here when I got home."_

_Tightening his grip on him, Iruka kissed his tanned forehead. "I'm never going to leave you, Naru-chan, because we're family and I love you."_

_Cerulean eyes looked up, full of disconcert, "Really?" He whispered._

_"Really." _

_End of Flashback_

He had grown attached to these humans in the past couple months, he didn't want to be alone anymore—at least not all the time, but he liked them and didn't want them to leave him. Kitsune knew he was not fox, but nor was he human, he just was…

Falling into a crouched position, Kitsune let out a terrible yowl, one like a kit would make when his mother went hunting, and cried for someone to come. He wanted someone to come back for him, he didn't want to be left alone again—he'd admit these humans were strange in their ways, but he didn't like this feeling within him. Kitsune didn't understand what it was, but he knew he didn't like it and wanted someone to make it go away.

"Naruto! What's wrong?" Iruka yelled, racing up the walkway and bursting through the door. He had stepped outside with Kakashi for a couple minutes to talk about what Neji and his uncle had said and after the silver nin had left, he found himself just standing there reminiscing. It was true that Naruto had changed, but it didn't change the fact that Kitsune was still Naruto or that he loved him any less, they were both his blonde bundle of energy he looked upon as a son.

The yowling stopped immediately as Kitsune launched himself at Iruka and held on tight, burying his face into Iruka's chest. "Nii-san." He said roughly.

Iruka gasped at the words he hadn't heard in eight years and yearned to hear once more. He wrapped his arms around Kitsune's shoulders and pulled the blonde fox closer. "What's wrong?"

"You gone…no here."

"Oh, Naru-chan, I was outside, that's all."

Those same cerulean eyes looked up at him, uncertainty filling his irises as he gnawed on his bottom lip. The silent question reflecting in those eyes came easily to Iruka.

"I'll never leave you; you'll never have to worry about that."

"Iruka-san?" A cool voice said from behind them and the two turned to look at Sasuke standing in the doorframe.

"Sasuke-kun! What are you doing here?" Iruka asked, surprised to see the shinobi standing there.

Kitsune tore away from Iruka and tackled Raven-Hair to the ground, grinning madly down that the stoic boy. "Sasuke!" He then titled his head and said, "Back?"

"Hai, now get off." He growled before shoving the blonde off him. Slowly pushing back to his feet, Sasuke glared at the now cowering fox and finally turned back to Iruka. "I left the hospital."

"Why?" The sudden change in the chuunin's voice took Sasuke by surprise and he found himself staring into angered eyes.

"Because it was useless."

"That's not good enough young man."

"You don't need to know anything else except that I have left." He said vehemently before disappearing from sight.

"Sasuke!" Iruka yelled as he dashed outside, but the young shinobi was already gone without a trace.

Kitsune tilted his head and frowned, uncertain of what exactly transpired between the two humans. He knew from the raised voices and the sudden change of inflections in their voices it was something of a dominance struggle, but why Raven-Hair suddenly fled made no sense. He looked at Scar-Nose for answers, but the man seemed unable to answer them himself.

Turning, Scar-Nose sighed and shook his head. "I have to inform Kakashi-san, okay? I promise I'm not leaving you, but we have to find Sasuke before it gets too dark."

"Sasuke gone?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah…Sasuke's gone." Iruka whispered before disappearing to find Kakashi.

Kitsune jumped back and yelped, teeth bared to attack at Scar-Nose's sudden disappearance, but there was no one to attack. Slowly the blonde fox stood and whirled around, looking around for his guardian, but finding nothing except his scent. "Sasuke gone?" He asked again to the empty house. "Find…Sasuke…"

Slowly the blonde fox crept out of the house, he knew it was against Scar-Nose to leave the den without another with him, but he wanted to help. Raven-Hair was finally back and Kitsune wanted to play with him, he'd been waiting so long for his den mate to awaken and come back. He still didn't understand why Raven-Hair decided to sleep so long though…

Kitsune paused just outside the door, closing his eyes and listening carefully to the sounds around him. His lips twitched slightly as he tilted his head towards the running water of a stream, to his left he could hear the angry screams of a hawk and behind him he heard the noisy drawing of carts and feet padding along the cobble roads of Konoha. Yet none of this helped him find Raven-Hair, all it did was impede his acute sense of hearing.

He crouched low to the ground, fingers hovering just over the grass and sniffed the ground, his nose singling out Raven-Hair's smell within seconds. He slept in the human's bed every night, he had become accustomed to the smell and knew he could recognize it anywhere now. With a burst of speed, Kitsune crossed the distance between him and his den mate, following the scent beyond rock, wood and stream and finally to a clearing several miles away.

He paused just outside of the clearing and tilted his head curiously at the large round clearing before him. No grass, no rock, no tree, no plant and no sign of wildlife were present, and from the smell of it, hadn't been in a long time. Kitsune took a hesitant step into the clearing, crawling on all fours slowly as if expecting a trap, and continued to look around him with wide blue eyes. He didn't like this place, something about this place was…wrong, it didn't feel right and made him uneasy as he continued to slowly make his way through it.

Large black slabs of stone came from the ground, polished so much that the setting sun brightly reflected off of them, blinding whoever looked directly at them. Burned posts of wood barely stood several yards away from him and he could almost see what looked like the floors in Raven-Hair's den. Kitsune shifted to the right, trying to keep his nerve in this place, and spun around at a sound, but there was nothing there. Growling at himself for acting like a newborn kit, Kitsune willed himself to calm down and continued through the stones with avid curiosity and fear.

"What are you doing here?" A rough voice growled and the blonde fox whirled around to look into deep angry ebony eyes.

"Find Sasuke." He answered edgily, uncertain of why Raven-Hair seemed so at peace in such a place.

"Well, go away."

Kitsune narrowed his eyes and stood, "No."

"I don't want you here." Sasuke hissed.

"Sasuke leave and Kitsune leave?"

"No, _you_ leave."

"Sasuke leave." Kitsune said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest as if to illustrate he wasn't leaving without the ebony nin.

"Just…leave me alone."

"Why?"

"I want to be alone."

Kitsune frowned, true as a fox he was a loner, but there were times when he didn't want to be alone—where he wanted a mate, a brother or sister or even a mother. He didn't understand why Raven-Hair wanted to be alone when he had been sleeping for so long. "Why?"

"Because I fucking want to be!" He raged, making the fox scurry away in surprise and fear. Kitsune sunk to his knees before his superior and tried to appeal to the raven haired boy, hoping his show of respect would quell the older boy's anger.

"Want to stay…w-with Sasuke." The fox said quietly, keeping his eyes bent to the ground. While spending time with the humans, Kitsune had learned many things about them and one was the importance of eye contact, something in his world was only made when trying to establish dominance. Eye contact with humans was just…courteous, Scar-Nose hated it when he dropped his gaze or looked elsewhere. But now was not a time to test Raven-Hair's patience and submission was the best way to stay alive unless there was no other alternative.

"Fine. Stay" Sasuke snapped, "See what I care." Yet deep in his heart, he was silently thankful the blonde didn't want to leave him, that someone was willing to stand beside him despite his demeanor.

Kitsune happily followed Raven-Hair through the odd looking stones, his earlier uneasiness forgotten, and finally fell to his haunches at a stream's edge. Seeing the cool water, the fox licked his chapped lips thirstily and began to dip down to drink his fill, but stopped. His expression turned from simple bliss to confusion as his eyes scanned the water, nothing grew in this steam and no fish were visible—what stream held no life?

"You've noticed then," Raven-Hair said coolly, staring at his reflection in the innocently looking water. "It's poisoned, cursed…deadly."

"What?" Kitsune asked, he knew none of these words.

He sighed and simplified it, "Bad, the water's bad."

This he understood and at hearing the words, the blonde fox scurried away from the stream's edge and kept his distance. He had known from the first step he had taken into this place that there was something wrong with it and the water only confirmed it, yet he still didn't understand exactly what it was that made him so uneasy.

"Do you know what this place is Naruto?" Raven-Hair asked quietly, his voice smooth and yet somehow holding a serious tone he had never heard before.

He pondered the words, taking the time to sort out the words and finally said, "No…"

Obsidian eyes fell on cerulean, "Can you not see them? Can you not hear their screams in the dead of night? Their voices calling for you? Their faces pale and bloody haunting your dreams? Can you not smell their blood? Can you not see it smeared on your hands and seeping into your skin? Can you see it Naruto?"

Kitsune suddenly hissed, every hair on his body upright and every muscle tense and waiting. He didn't understand everything Raven-Hair had said, but he did know why this place was so unnerving. It reeked of death, and not just the death of prey or even the death that comes with old age—this was death that hung deep in the air, lingering and poisoning the land. He couldn't suppress the shiver that ran down his spine and looked up into haunted eyes.

Raven-Hair stared palm up at his hands, his breathing slightly quicker than it was a moment ago. "Five years ago…almost five years ago to this day that _he_ did this. I swore I'd kill him, avenge my family and clan by killing he who betrayed us all—Itachi." He said the name with such loathing that Kitsune looked away from those hateful eyes. "He killed all of them, all of them except me, making me the avenger…a mission that if I fail then my family shall never know vengeance and this place will never bear life.

"This is my clan." He said, turning around to look at the numerous tombstones, each with their names and family emblem engraved into the black stone. "This is where they died…"

Kitsune didn't know what to do, death was not something one lingered on in the animal world. Avoiding it, yes, mourning it, yes, but to remember it past four moons? It didn't affect him in such a way as it did Raven-Hair. Human emotions were weird…

"Not many people know where this place is…the Uchiha compound is so isolated from the town that only a couple people actually knew that the mansion standing today is not the one I spent my life in. We burned the house, along with everyone in it, and then I placed these markers up—a reminder to what my life is and why."

"Not know…" Kitsune said, frowning deeply. "No un…ders-stand."

"I know," he smirked, "that's why I'm telling you this."

With that statement, the blonde fox confirmed humans made absolutely no sense.

"Come on, let's head back." Raven-Hair whispered before shoving his hands into his pockets and walking away, his head tipped towards the ground and his eyes focused on the soot sprinkled sand.

Happy to get away from the deep aura of death, Kitsune quickly followed and stayed close to Raven-Hair all the way back to the den.

Sasuke sat on the couch with Naruto beside him, acting as if two extremely pissed off shinobi weren't glaring at them. The dark genin crossed his arms over his chest and slouched into his seat, glaring a hole through the floor.

"What the hell did you two think you were doing?" Iruka finally said after a ten minute silence. "First, _you_ Sasuke, leave the hospital against doctor's orders and then you disappear for two hours! I leave for five fucking minutes and come back to find Naruto gone as well!"

"My, my, you really are mad if you're cussing Iruka-san."

"And you!" The chuunin said, pointing at Kakashi, "Where the fuck were you? I've been here for two hours trying to get a hold of you to tell you that our were gone and you decide to finally show up ten minutes before they get here!"

"If we're done here—" Sasuke said, starting to stand up.

"WE ARE NOT DONE!" Iruka raged, effectively making Naruto sink down into the couch and Sasuke sit once more. "Now, we are going to set some rules and Sasuke, I expect you to help Naruto understand what he can't."

"Hn."

"Now then, curfew is at nine p.m., if you're not in the house by then, you'll be punished accordingly. I expect both of you up by six a.m. and your beds made and rooms clean before you come down for breakfast—Sasuke, you'll be helping Naruto with that. Supper will be served at seven unless otherwise said and we will eat as a family despite our differences.

"Kakashi, you are to abide by these rules as well, you had better start answering your cell phone from now or I _will_ drag you home from wherever you are."

"But six is so early!" The silver jounin whined.

"Do I look like I care? Naruto, no leaving the house without one of us." The blonde fox pouted and crossed his arms, but didn't say anything. "Now then, chores will be given out as well, a new chore list will be made every week by me and I expect you all to help out with them. I understand that there'll be missions and such, but when there are no missions, I expect the household to be run by this."

"This is my house—" Sasuke began again.

"And you are my responsibility Sasuke and you now have people who need to know where you are in case something happens. This is what families do for each other," he sighed, "I want to know where you are so I'm not worrying about what happened to you."

"I have no family." He whispered angrily before running up the stairs to his room and slamming the door. It had been so long since he had shown any emotion at all, though anger was the one he felt the most now, but still…he never showed emotion, so why was he now?

Naruto jumped up to follow his 'friend', but Iruka laid a hand on his shoulder. "No Naruto, let him be."

"Why?"

"Because Sasuke needs to think about some things. He needs to be alone." The chuunin smiled down at the blonde and then let his frame fall wearily. "I'll go get dinner ready…" He said, moving towards the kitchen.

"Rest Iruka-san, I'll get something from order out." Kakashi said before disappearing and making Naruto yelp again in surprise. Wide blue eyes looked around for the silver nin and he even looked under the couch before stalking through the house for Kakashi.

Iruka smirked at Naruto's innocent antics and fell back on the couch, sighing as he closed his eyes. Yet his rest was cut short by a knock on the door—well, more like a bang on the door. Standing, Iruka crossed the room with Naruto right on his heels and opened the large white door.

"Iruka-sensei! Sasuke-kun's gone from the hospital, is he here? Is he okay? What happened? Why isn't he there? Did something happen that I should know about?" A pink haired girl asked, her green eyes full of worry.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, he's here and in his room. He decided to come back home…"

Naruto looked underneath Iruka's arm—still dressed in nothing except his lounge pants—and up at the human before him. Sniffing the air, he wrinkled his nose at the strong smell coming from…it.

Blinking, Sakura looked at the blonde boy and pointed down at him, "And who's he?"

Dhampir  
07/28/05  
Page 9

Ah yes, I'm quite cruel to just leave it off there. But hopefully it'll keep you interested, that is the point of ending a chapter, right? Anyway, if you want to know why I took so long to update…:

1. I've been sick

2. My computer refused to turn on

3. I somehow lost half this document and had to rewrite it

4. Was trying to learn more about feral children—you know, they are real.

Well, hope you enjoyed this installment and until next time…hopefully a sooner next time.

**Note:** Thanks to everyone who corrected me on the Hyuuga spelling as well as Bakuggen… I thought I had spelled those wrong, but I had no way to check, so thanks a lot.

**Gatogirl11:** Thanks, I can't believe I didn't catch that…

**Foxcat:** Thank you, I'll keep that in mind, as you can see I really didn't proofread that chapter before posting it…

**Koril Dragonic:** Hehe, so that was cool huh? Yeah, I was trying to find a way to make the seal a little different from the normal.

**Fallingstar:** Sasuke's better! Or at least physically…

As you can see…I'm answering reviews again, sorry that I haven't gotten to before. Also, in all honesty, I can't remember if the Uchiha Massacre happened six years ago or seven yeas ago or five, but I thought six...so that's what I went with.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** Please keep in mind that this story is based upon Jane Lindskold's novel _Through Wolf's Eyes_ and is not all of my own creation.

**Through Fox's Eyes**  
_Chapter Ten_

Deep blue eyes blinked childishly at the young teen. His mussed, spiky hair was a rich sun kissed blonde, that if properly cared for would be stunning, and his skin was a perfect shade of tan that any girl would die to have. The boy, around her age from his looks, slowly stood and Sakura blushed as his arms fell to his side, exposing his naked chest. She lowered her eyes only to bring them back up as the lounge pants began slipping lower on his slim hips. "U-um…" She stuttered, glancing furiously from his face to his feet that were barefoot. "Who's this, I-Iruka-sensei?"

Kitsune slowly stood, curiously looking at the creature before him. It looked human, it had two arms and two legs, but anyone could obviously tell something was wrong with it.

For beginners, its fur was one piece that started above the knee and ended at its shoulders. It then split up the sides and its legs suddenly turned black beneath it making Kitsune shudder at the sight. The deep red fur reminded him of blood and her green eyes were of a color he had never seen before, this creature surely wasn't human then with eyes like that. Slowly traveling upward, he took in the protruding lumps on her chest and her atrocious pink hair that matched her claws perfectly.

And it smelled bad.

Every time he sniffed the air, his nostrils were filled with a horrid, overpowering stench that stung his nose and eyes. He couldn't place the smell, but it was certainly coming from the creature and it was making his head hurt the longer he stayed near it. Kitsune leaned slightly closer to get a better look at the creature before backing away again, a sudden conclusion coming to mind: It was sick. His eyes widened and he quickly retreated a safe distance as to keep the sickly thing at bay, warily watching its every move.

Iruka stepped aside and waved Sakura in, "It'd be better if you came in Sakura."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei." She said, smiling a bit as she stepped into the mansion, her sandals clapping against the marble floor. She quickly slipped her shoes off and into a pair of slippers that probably belonged to the boy now standing a couple paces away.

"You don't have to call me that anymore, Hatake-san is your sensei now." He said as he closed the door, not wanting to relay Naruto's past once again.

Clasping her hands in front of her, she looked around the sparse room and said absently, "I guess it's just habit really."

"Why don't you sit down and I'll make you some tea."

"Oh, that's all right, I just came by to make sure Sasuke-kun is all right. He disappeared without a word and scared everyone at the hospital, but I thought he'd come home, it seemed plausible."

"Well, you always were one of my brightest students." Iruka smiled.

Sakura smiled back and looked around for the now missing boy, spotting him by the stairwell, inching his way towards the first stair. "So um…who's he?" She asked, pointing at the blonde, who froze, his eyes as large as saucers.

"That's Naruto."

"Hi!" She called, giving him a friendly wave that sent him halfway up the stairs.

The blonde quickly retreated, crouching down and looking at Sakura from between the banister. Wary fear filled his eyes and he bared his teeth in a half snarl, hoping to scare the disease away.

"Naruto!" Iruka reprimanded, shooting him a disapproving look that the blonde had the decency to cower at. "I expect better manners from you, come down here this instant and greet Sakura properly."

"No." He narrowed his eyes challengingly.

"I said, come down here."

The blonde shook his head vigorously, vehemently refusing to budge from his spot.

Sakura frowned, "Is he an exchange shinobi from another village Iruka-san? Is that why I haven't seen him before?"

"You could…say that." He answered, "He doesn't understand much of our language so I'm teaching him. He's a special case, he hasn't had much training and so I'm trying to catch him up to speed with his peers."

"That's so cool!" She gasped, clasping her hands together with a loud clap.

"He's a bit skittish as you can see, he doesn't trust people easily."

"Why's he here though? With Sasuke-kun?"

"Sasuke seemed to be the first to gain his trust." He said truthfully, "Naruto doesn't want to leave him and we can't leave them."

"We?" She asked quizzically before her eyes widened. "Oh! You mean Kakashi-sensei and you. So then Ino was right about you two being a couple."

Iruka's face faltered before sputtering, "W-what? A couple? Me a-and him?"

"Aw, why so shy koibito?" A deep voice asked before the teacher was pulled into a strong embrace. "Everyone already knows…"

"K-K-Kakashi!" He yelled, vainly trying to pull away from the jounin's grip.

"How about a little kiss, hmm?" His eye crinkled in amusement as the teacher's face became tinged with pink at the thought. Not being able to resist, Kakashi bent down to nuzzle Iruka's neck teasingly but instead found himself being slammed into a wall without any warning. Iruka…? Opening his eye, he groaned as his head began to throb and focused slowly on the teacher before his gaze slipped downward.

Standing between him and Iruka was an enraged Kitsune, his eyes dilated to small slits and a killing aura radiating off him. His body was bent low to the ground, one hand bracing him on the cold marble while the other hovered over it, and his eyes focused solely on Kakashi. Despite the fact his eyes were still blue, his fangs had grown and were slightly protruding over his bottom lip while his fingernails had grown longer and thicker as if they were claws.

This was truly Kitsune, not Naruto or Kyuubi, but the one who was half fox and half human. He was the most dangerous for he thought like a human but had the speed, the power and the cunning of a fox. "Shit." He whispered as he pushed away from the wall, and that about summed it up. Pissing off Kitsune was practically asking for your execution and it was something that Kakashi and Iruka had learned to avoid.

"Mine!" The blonde fox growled, clenching one claw tightly.

"Easy Kitsune," Kakashi said slowly, taking a hesitant step, "I was only joking around."

Blue eyes darted from Kakashi to Iruka and then back again. "You hurt nii-san."

"No!" Iruka said, snapping out of his stupor. "No, Kitsune, he was only kidding. I'm fine, see?" He gave the blonde a large smile and held his hand out to him.

Kitsune cocked his head, "Fine?"

"Yes, I'm not hurt."

Very slowly, the blonde fox stood, his eyes warily watching the silver jounin, but he didn't attack. "What is…joke?" He asked after a minute, his canines and claws shrinking back.

"Prank, doing something without…meaning it." Iruka tried to explain.

His brow furrowed. "No understand."

He sighed, "Joking is—"

"Why don't you ask Sasuke what joking is, Naruto?" Kakashi broke in, his eye crinkling in a smile. "And then bring him down here, okay?"

Kitsune nodded and began up the stairs, but kept glancing back to make sure his nii-san was still all right. The fox within him kept whispering to kill him, he had hurt his 'mother' and it was only right to do so, but Kitsune didn't think Iruka would approve so he ignored the fox. He would hunt later tonight and feed the blood lust within him while all the others slept.

Kitsune knocked on the door before entering, something Iruka told him was important for some reason. He didn't understand why tapping on wood made it safe to enter, but humans were weird.

"Dobe, you're supposed to wait until I say 'come in' and then enter." Raven-Hair murmured from his bed.

"Huh?"

"Never mind." The boy slowly turned on his side and cocked an eyebrow at him. "What do you want?"

"Told ask…" he frowned, "what joke?"

Raven-Hair grimaced at his vocabulary, or lack thereof, and shook his head. "Unless you can use proper grammar, I will not answer you."

"G-grammear?"

"_Gramm-ar._" He slowly pronounced.

"Grammar." Then he gave him a quizzical look. "What's grammar?"

"It's speaking correctly."

"Oh."

Raven-Hair sighed, "Was that it?"

The blonde fox bit on his bottom lip, trying to decide if he should bring his alpha near the diseased creature. "Wanted downfloor but…me not want downfloor." He finally said brokenly.

"Down_stairs_ dobe, its stairs, not floor."

"S-stairs."

"Good."

The fox knew that word and beamed up at his alpha. It was a good thing Raven-Hair decided to stop sleeping because he was starting to get bored without his odd playmate, without the dark human the den had become much too dull. "How joke gram-ear…good?"

Raven-Hair gritted his teeth, dulling the sharp response on the tip of his tongue while curious blue eyes stared up at him, waiting. "Say 'what is a joke?' dobe, not 'what joke?'"

"What _is_ joke?" Kyuubi asked, his mind mulling over the word 'dobe'. Raven-Hair called him that often so maybe it was a name of endearment like 'Naru-kun.' He crinkled his nose, he had no idea where that name came from but it was making his head hurt thinking about it.

"To joke means to say something without meaning it or do something for fun."

"What?"

Raven-Hair ran a hand through his hair, rolling his eyes as he slid off the bed. "Close your eyes." He commanded, walking towards the blonde fox as the confused youth did as he was told. "Now give me your hand." Slowly Kyuubi outstretched his hand, his lips quirked in confusion while keeping his eyes tightly closed. Raven-Hair smirked as he grabbed Kyuubi's wrist and spit in his hand.

In surprise, Kyuubi grabbed back his hand and hissed, scowling at the human. He snorted while wiping the spit on his pants and then crossed his arms over his chest, his lips forming a pout. "Teme."

"That's a joke." Raven-Hair said just before walking passed the blonde and down the stairs to meet the others.

Kyuubi looked at his right hand curiously, puzzling over what he had just learned. Spitting in one's hand was a joke? So…joke meant doing something another didn't like? He pondered over it while he blindly followed his leader, not even thinking about where he was walking until they were nearing the kitchen where the sick human's scent reached his nostrils. Sneezing, he shook his head to clear his mind of that awful smell and grabbed Raven-Hair's wrist in an attempt to keep him away from the sickness. "No."

"_What?_" Raven-Hair glared over his shoulder at him, focusing on where Kyuubi's hand encircled his wrist.

"No. Bad. No go." He said, biting his lip as he tried to form better sentences.

He tried to pull his wrist away from the blonde's grip, but the fox was proving more powerful than he had first thought. "I'm hungry, now let go."

"No." The grip tightened painfully and Raven-Hair had to fight back a wince.

"Why?"

Kyuubi pondered over as the sick creature appeared in the doorway with a large smile on its face. Pointing at it, he thought back to what Raven-Hair told him earlier, though it was hazy. "D…deadly, bad, p-poi-sion-ed, bad, bad, bad." He said while the creature's face became red with each passing word. "Cursssssed?"

"_WHAT?_" A shriek came from the creature.

Sasuke groaned inwardly, Sakura's face was red with anger and getting redder as the blonde dobe continued to babble words about her. His teammate was very sensitive to anything said about her looks and forehead, it always sent her into a rage, which was usually towards her best friend/rival Ino.

"_WHAT?_" She shrieked, bringing the other two ninjas to the juncture between the kitchen and the living room. "How _dare_ you! Do you even know who you're talking to your brat?" Screaming, she pointed at Naruto—who had taken to hiding behind Sasuke's legs—and took a step forward, "I'm called the Flower of Konoha, I'm one of the most beautiful women in the land and you dare insult me?"

Naruto cringed, whimpering and shrinking lower to the ground. She was scary and he didn't know what to do other than let Sasuke deal with it. He was stronger after all. "Scary." He muttered, closing his eyes against the girl.

"Scary? _Scary?_ I'll show you scary you idiot! I'll show you how to treat a woman, even if I have to beat it into you." She rolled up her sleeve on one arm and began towards the blonde to pummel him into the ground, but Kakashi pulled her back, shaking his head.

"Calm down Sakura, he doesn't know what he's saying." The jounin said.

Sakura turned her deadly gaze on her sensei and pointed at Naruto. "That thing just insulted me and you want me to stay calm?"

"Do you remember what he just did to _me_ a couple minutes ago?" He asked in a calm voice, his eyes never wavering from hers.

She paused, her anger dissipating at the thought of what the blonde could do. "I…"

"If he was truly angry or thought you were a threat to one of us, you'd be dead."

She looked back at the frightened blonde; he didn't look like anyone who could hurt another. He even looked like a civilian, unable to protect himself from an attack, but what Kakashi-sensei said was true, he was able to hit their teacher—a feat they hadn't even been able to do yet. Oh, they've come close, but they had never drawn blood or even got a head on hit in before. "I didn't think…"

"Right, you didn't." Then Kakashi turned away and disappeared into the kitchen, humming a tune as he moved to finish setting the table.

"Naruto." Sasuke said coolly, making the blonde look up at him with confused and fearful blue eyes. He had never been yelled at like that and it scared him, he didn't understand why. "Come on, aren't you hungry?"

A slow nod.

"Then come on, we should eat."

His eyes darted from Sasuke to Sakura, who stood in the doorway, and then back to Sasuke. This time he shook his head, scooting back from the girl. He didn't want to get sick, it was dangerous because most foxes never survived illness, and going near that girl meant getting sick.

"Sakura, go." The genin commanded, his eyes still focused on the little blonde fox at his feet.

"But—"

"Go."

With one last glance at Naruto, she moved back into the kitchen and away from sight. She didn't want to leave him with that dangerous creature, but she couldn't disobey Sasuke, especially in his house.

Moving towards the couch, Sasuke sat down and waited as the fox crawled onto the couch beside him, his eyes darting nervously from Sasuke to where Sakura had stood. "Bad." He mewled, trying to make Sasuke understand the danger he was in.

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why is she bad?" He asked, watching as the blonde's face scrunched up in thought.

Tapping his nose, he wrinkled it and said again, "Bad."

Sasuke tried to muffle his bark of laughter, so that's what the problem was. "She smells bad?"

"What?"

"Smell," he pointed to his nose and breathed in, "she smells bad."

"Hai!" Naruto nodded vigorously, pleased Sasuke understood him. "Smell bad."

"But that doesn't make her deadly."

"Huh?"

"She smells bad, but you can still go near her."

"No. Bad, poissioned."

"Poisoned."

He nodded his head, glancing at the doorway again.

As Sasuke pondered over that one, he watched the blonde fox sitting on his couch constantly watching for his teammate. He recognized the words as what he used earlier, he must've picked up on them and understood them as 'bad', but why say that about Sakura? "…Do you mean sick?"

"Ssiick?" Blue eyes focused on him again, that confusion there but he thought he might've glanced understanding there too.

"Do you think she'll make you sick? Make you bad?"

He nodded vigorously, smiling at the brunette.

Sasuke sighed, dropping his face into his hands; how the hell was he going to explain that Sakura wasn't sick? It had to be the perfume, he always thought she wore too much and that it would give them away to any enemies nearby, but he never said anything about it.

"Sasuke? You sick?"

"No, dobe, I'm not sick and neither is Sakura."

"What?"

"Sakura—" He stopped, confusion filled those eyes again, great, he didn't even know who Sakura was. "Come on." Standing, he grabbed the blonde's elbow and dragged him into the kitchen as he muttered about psychotic feral children. Three pairs of eyes settled on them—well, two and a half—as they entered and watched as Sasuke pulled Naruto over to the table.

Naruto struggled as the sickening scent got stronger, his eyes going wide with fear at the thought of being anywhere near the creature. "Sasuke!" He whined, pulling at his arm in a feeble attempt to get it free. "Nooooo."

"Dobe," he muttered, finally stopping when Naruto sat perched atop his seat like always. Pointing, he started with Iruka and moved right, "Who's that?"

"I-_ruu -_ka." He answered, still confused.

"And who's that?" Sasuke asked, moving his finger towards his lazy sensei.

"Kakakashi."

Dark coal eyes settled on bright cobalt, "Who am I?"

Naruto gave him a brilliant smile, "Sasuke!"

"And that's Sakura." He said, pointing at the nervous pink haired girl standing beside Kakashi.

"…What?"

"Sakura."

"Sak-u-ra?" Naruto asked, cocking his head at the girl.

Sasuke nodded and then sat down in the next chair. "And she's not sick."

"No sick? No…bad?"

"No."

Confusion resurfaced in his eyes as he tried to understand what Sasuke was telling him. As far as he was concerned, the creature was certainly sick! The weird fur, the horrid smell, the lumps on its chest and the black skin—black skin and bad smell always meant illness. "What is?" He asked finally, pointing at the young girl.

Iruka smiled, "_She_ Naruto, Sakura is a girl."

"Huh?"

"Female dobe."

That he understood, though he had only seen a handful of females in the woods. Eyes brightening, he jumped down from the stool and approached Sakura with unveiled curiosity. Her being female explained everything! Though he never scented a female with such a horrid smell… "Sakura!" He chirped, staring up at the girl from his crouched position.

Sakura pushed her back against the kitchen counter, "Is he brain damaged?"

"No, but he hasn't had much socialization." _That he can remember at least…_ Iruka added silently. He watched as the blonde fox examined the girl, pulling on the end of her dress and sniffing it with curiosity. Naruto snorted and shook his head, spitting at the strong scent before retreating back to his seat looking utterly horrified.

"Sick." He yowled, his eyes hooded as he watched Sakura from his perch.

Sakura growled, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the blonde fox. "Maybe you should teach him Konoha mannerism before our language."

"It's your perfume." Sasuke muttered, not looking anywhere really. "It's too strong and so he thinks you're sick."

"How…did you find that out?" Iruka asked, it had never crossed his mind that Sakura's smell might've brought up this wary side of Naruto.

"He told me. Not in so many words, but…" He shrugged, looking annoyed for having to say more than he had originally intended.

Kakashi nodded, one arm wrapped around his chest while the other supported his chin. "His senses are more heightened than ours; it's why he doesn't respond well to spicy foods either. Anything with a strong smell or taste is unappealing to him, he doesn't like saké either."

"And how, pray tell, would he know that?" Iruka asked, slowly rounding on the jounin.

"He was thirsty!" He defended.

"So you gave him _saké?_"

"…What's wrong with that?"

"He's thirteen! He's not even a genin and you're giving him alcohol? What's wrong with water, milk and juice?"

"It's all I had at the moment!" Kakashi said, taking a step back as the fuming teacher took a step towards him. Sure he was usually stronger than the chuunin, but when Iruka got angry, there was nothing that would save the poor soul who had stirred Iruka's wrath. "Besides, he appeared and asked for the bottle! It wasn't like I went out and bought it especially for him or anything."

Iruka took another step towards the man, seething. "And it never occurred to you that he might not know what saké is?" Sometimes he wondered about the jounin, like, how exactly did such an idiot become a jounin and an ex-Anbu Captain?

"Whoops?"

"Oh, you better believe so!"

A sharp yowl interrupted their 'little' argument and everyone turned to where the blonde fox sat, looking more miserable with every passing second. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no." He shook his head vigorously, looking with worried blue eyes between Kakashi and Iruka. "Joke? Yours joke? Hai? No…" he paused, "no hurt? Bad."

The two older ninjas looked at each other and then at Naruto again. "Sorry Naruto, we didn't mean to upset you." Iruka finally said, giving the blonde a soft smile.

But that didn't appease him, jumping from his chair; he crossed the tile floor to where the two stood. He held his hand out, grunting at Iruka until the chuunin followed with his own hand. In the background, Sasuke let out a horrified groan as Naruto grabbed the pale wrist and spit into Iruka's hand. "Joke? Hai? Joke?" He asked, pointing at his spit.

Sakura watched the scene unfold silently, but she finally said, "Ew! That's disgusting."

"U-um…yes, joke Naruto. Good job…" Iruka said while wiping his hand off on a nearby towel. "Very good, we're not fighting so go back to the table and I'll get you something to eat, okay?"

Still uncertain, Naruto looked at Kakashi, demanding his hand as well, but the jounin held both hands up in surrender and shook his head. "We were joking! Just a joke Naruto, nothing to worry about, neh?"

Blue, unblinking eyes remained steadfast on the jounin, waiting for the ninja's hand. "Joke?"

"Kakashi, give him your hand." Iruka commanded.

"But…"

"_Kakashi._"

Sighing, the silver nin put his hand out and waited until Naruto spit into it before saying, "Yes, joke."

Nodding, Naruto returned to his seat and waited for his food, watching with avid wide eyes as Iruka set five bowls down at the table. The blonde frowned, he didn't understand numbers well, but he did know that was more than usual. Watching silently, his eyes followed every movement one of them made until they were all sitting down at the table, each bowl paired with a human. Huffing, he gave up trying to understand and looked down at the new food given to him with unveiled curiosity. "What?" He asked, watching the noodles swirl slowly in the amber liquid.

"It's ramen dobe, just eat it." Sasuke muttered as he slowly toyed with his own food. He hated this stuff, too much saturated fats and salt in it for his taste, and just smelling the broth made him lose his appetite.

Very slowly, Naruto stuck his finger in the hot liquid, hissing and jerking his finger back in surprise. Whimpering, he stuck the sore digit in his mouth and sucked on it, trying to ease the pain that was already diminishing. As the last droplets of ramen broth fell onto his tongue, his expression of pain quickly turned into joy. "Good!" He chirped and lowered his head to lap at the broth.

"_Naruto!"_ Iruka scolded. Blue eyes looked up and Naruto sat up with a pout on his lips, broth dripping from his chin. "Use your fork and spoon."

The blonde gave a small groan, obviously unhappy with the command, but picked up his fork anyway. Battling with the noodles, he was slowly able to eat it, slurping and chewing loudly as he made joyful guttural sounds and nodded his approval of the weird food. "What?" He asked again, pointing at the meal.

"Ramen."

"Ra-meeen." He said, cocking his head.

"Very good!"

"Rameen…day?"

Iruka frowned, "You want ramen tomorrow?"

The blonde nodded, slurping the last few noodles in his bowl.

"Well…maybe."

Naruto beamed at the prospect of the new food, one of the few he actually liked. Of course, he still preferred his hunts, but this 'ramen' was a good supplement for now. Looking over at Sasuke, he saw the dark shinobi hadn't touched his bowl yet and cocked his head. "Sasuke no?"

"What dobe?"

"No Sasuke ramen?" He asked, licking his lips as he eyed the bowl of noodles.

Pushing it away slightly, Sasuke glared at the offending food. "No."

"Mine!" The blonde called before grabbing the bowl, effectively sloshing broth all over the table and Sasuke, and dug into his second helping.

"Dobe!" Sasuke yelled, standing up to avoid getting soaked any more.

Iruka jumped up from the table and quickly began cleaning up the mess. "Naruto!"

Sensing the anger directed towards him, the blonde fox quickly set to yowling his distress, only making the others more irate. His precious ramen had been spilt over the table and now two angry ninjas were yelling at him. All he wanted was the food and no one understood that. Letting out another piercing yowl, the blonde began to cry.

"Idiot! Shut up!" Sasuke growled, stomping away to change his clothes.

"What did you do to Sasuke-kun?" Sakura raged at the blonde.

Grabbing another towel, Iruka set to scolding the blonde. "Naruto, you know you're not supposed to—"

"Now Sasuke-kun will hate me because _I_ helped with the ramen."

"—grab things that don't belong to you. Now look at the mess you made, you should be the one cleaning it up instead of me."

"How can I fix this now? He'll never let me over here again!"

Naruto let out another heartbreaking cry, as he sat glumly on the chair.

"I've told you this again and again," Iruka continued, "to not grab things that don't belong to you. You ask! And this is why, because you—"

"Idiot or not, I'll get you back Naruto." Sakura swore vehemently.

"—might break or knock something over."

Kakashi sighed as he continued to stir his ramen, watching the scene play out silently. He thought ramen might be a bad idea, but he wanted to see how the blonde responded to it. Seeing the scarred nosed chuunin cleaning up the table while scolding the upset fox, Sasuke most likely grousing up in his room as he changed, the blonde crying for his lost ramen and Sakura tearing her hair out about how to get back into Sasuke's good graces again almost made him laugh. They were a family all right, but the most fucked up family he'd ever seen, but for some reason, he wouldn't want it any other way.

Dhampir  
Page 10  
02/17/06

**Note:  
**Hey all, sorry for the longest disappearance ever. Yeah, like I said, my computer broke and is dead (xx dead computer) and because I had to use the family computer, I had to be careful when I wrote. My mom would kill me if she saw half the stuff I wrote and I don't like people looking over my shoulder anyway as I write, so yeah, I got like ten minutes a week to write.

Anyway, thanks for being patient everyone and I got a new laptop so hopefully I can get chapters out like I used to! I can't promise anything though because I go to school full time and my job refuses to give me less hours. Isn't it usually the other way? Like, they don't want to give you _more_ hours? Eh.

So yeah, here's the tenth installment of _Through Fox's Eyes_. Thank you everyone for reading so far and being patient! Sorry again.

**Reviews:**

**rAiNwAtEr:** Hehe, I don't know yet. I think I might later rewrite the chapters in yaoi form, but I don't think I can handle another story as of yet, even if it is a split. And for Iruka and Kakashi, I haven't decided…

**fallon:** I don't know about pairings yet. As I said above, I might rewrite it as yaoi later, but as of now, it's more about Naruto trying to figure out being human.

**oOKeairaOo:** Hmm…I had thought the massacre was when he was six, but maybe I read that wrong. Thanks for pointing that out to me, if you even remember putting that in… - Anyway, as for the jealousy thing now that Sakura has shown up, I hadn't even thought about it. I will now.

**Blindseer:** Yay! Someone who knows Fire Keeper! Hehe, I love that series, if you've found out yet. Anyway, maybe a Naruto-Hinata pairing, but is she an animal lover? Also, I don't' know if Naruto will pair up with anyone because he's more fox right now than human, it might be hard for him to do so. I don't know yet…kinda following whatever the heck my fingers write in this fic.

**Dreamsraven:** No sasu-naru yet and probably for a long while…sorry! But thanks for liking it still. Hehe.

**Koyoru:** Yes, it is Byakugan. Thanks for pointing that out to me, I always screw up that word even with it right in front of me. Sakura does seem pretty useless…eh, every story needs a fan girl, right?

**Alex:** Both, just yaoi later as a split story.

**Insane Dragon Slayer:** Yeah, I try to make my chapters long, but of course that makes it harder to update as well. Hopefully ten pages is pretty good…

**Foonting Turlingdromes:** I don't know, you're right he isn't such a worrywart in the manga, but he just seems to be the type to me. He's always nervous at least so for me I figured if he had someone to care for, he'd be a worrywart.

**B.J. Sanders:** "Through Wolf's Eyes." Such a great story…I love it to death. Oddly enough though, I don't own it…

**Lunabasketcase:** Nope, I won't ever leave a story unfinished, but when things happen, I unfortunately will disappear like this. I hated it too…sorry again.

**FallingStAr:** Sorry! I understand if you don't like me anymore, I'm annoyed with myself as well for letting so much time elapse between it all.

**Everyone Else:** I really have read everyone's reviews and appreciate them all! But I only answer questions usually. Thank you so much for reading up to Chapter Ten so far: 377 reviews! Sorry for the long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long update. I'll try to do better but no promises unfortunately.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
Note: This is slightly based upon the series _Through Wolf's Eyes_ by Jane Lindskold, which everyone should read and the newest installment is absolutely fantatstic.  
Second Note: List o' names:

Raven Hair: Sasuke  
Kitsune: Naruto  
Scar Nose: Iruka  
Silver-Moon: Kakashi  
Ill One: Sakura  
-0- POV change  
- Space breaker

Through Fox's Eyes**  
**_Chapter Eleven_

The people of Konoha had always looked forward to spring; it was the most peaceful season of the year as well as the most beautiful. Out of the twelve months during the year, summer lasted for seven months of it, winter for a month at the most and spring and fall for two. The summer days were long, hot and humid, winter was too cold for the civilian habitants of Konoha most years and fall only gave brief comfort to those who had to battle falling leaves, permafrost, fog and rainstorms. Thus spring with its gentle temperatures, cool breezes and sprouting flowers was one of the most liked seasons of the year.

It was also when the Lunar Festival commenced and younger children who had to be in bed by nine could stay up all night for a night full of games, prizes, dances and candles. Streamers covered the Town's Square with banners, signs and vendors yelling to passing families to buy a trinket or try their luck at a game. The Lunar Festival always began on the last day of winter and ended midday on the first day of spring, thus welcoming in the next season. It was an amazing sight to see as everyone lit candles just a little before midnight and flooded the town to light the torches that lined the streets. It was always left to the older children to light the torches and see who would be the first to find the 'emblem' of their Hokage. Whoever brought back the gold and black necklace was awarded a gift by the Hokage himself and received one day of special training from the elder. As such, the full fledged ninjas always kept an eye on things from the shadows and rooftops because though they were just children, they could still do a lot of damage if a fight broke out.

The Lunar Festival was a week away and the planning committee was hard at work trying to fix any last minute changes or mistakes before setting the Town's Square up. Haruno Sakura had been a long term committee member since she was old enough to read and had quickly become one of the heads once she had turn ten. Usually she loved the turning seasons and couldn't wait to begin setting up for the Lunar Festival, but today she was anything but happy. If anything, the pink haired kinouchi was definitely _not_ enjoying the day as her peers seemed to be doing and instead was fuming as she stormed down the well worn path to the portico.

Of course, her attitude might've had something to do with a certain stubborn blonde fox that had been following her everywhere for the past three days. Everywhere she turned, he was there and watching her with those confused and uncomprehending blue eyes. Even throwing kunai at him seemed to have no affect on the fox as all he did was skitter out of the way and then continue to follow her. And when she yelled at him, he just cocked his head and blinked those big eyes of his until she was finished and then follow behind her once more as if nothing had happened.

At the moment, Sakura was gripping a kunai in one hand with all her might and in the other hand she held the last minute changes for the Lunar Festival she had been sent to collect. Naruto was carefully following behind her by three steps, watching her every move as if that would help him understand the odd creature before him. It had taken him another two weeks before he finally decided that Sakura wasn't sick and wouldn't endanger his family and since then he hadn't left her side for anything except food and sleep. The odd creature intrigued him, it changed skins more often in one day than Sasuke did in a week and the different variations he caught in its voice made him wonder what other noises it could make. Thus starting his long list of pranks, which he was getting quite good at, just to see what noises the humans could make.

And he wasn't disappointed, Kakashi's voice went flat whenever he was the brunt of a prank, Iruka's became shrill and Sakura's varied from dark to high pitched depending on the prank, but it was Sasuke's voice he found the most interesting. The dark boy's voice fall to a deep rumbling that would start in his diaphragm as he glared at Naruto and his voice would drop in temperature as impending death dripped from his words as he told Naruto to go to hell.

Sakura huffed and turned on her heel, her hands resting on her hips as she glared at the blonde standing not even two feet from her. "Naruto, go home!" She said hotly, watching as he cocked his head at her.

"Why?" He asked, one of his newest words.

"Because this is private."

"What?"

"Private, you're not allowed in there." She said, pointing at the portico a couple yards away. "So go home."

Standing to his full height, Naruto peeked over her shoulder and stared at the gathering of men and women within the wooden building. "What's that?"

"None of your business. Now go home or…or no ramen for a week!" She knew it was an underhanded move, but the blonde fox had come completely enthralled with ramen and they soon figured out it was their best bargaining chip.

Those blue eyes widened a fraction and his bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "No!" He keened, falling back into a crouch.

"Then go home right now."

Naruto worried over his bottom lip for a minute before snorting and turning around to track his way back to Sasuke's house. "Bye!" He said before making his way down the path to the market, which connected to the road that led straight to Sasuke's house.

Sakura watched the blonde disappear from view before entering the portico. Immediately finding her friend/rival Ino, she sat across from the long haired blonde and turned her thoughts away from annoying foxes to the festival at hand. "Finally, some sanity." She muttered as her mother called everyone to attention.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Kitsune paused at the edge of the trail, peering down at the asphalt walkway and comparing it to the soil beneath his covered feet. He wrinkled his nose at the hard black surface and huffed, his lip sticking out in a small pout—which he had become quite good at. He didn't like how those paths felt on his feet and even in…what had the humans called them? Oh right, sandals. Even in sandals, the asphalt made his feet ache in a way they never had before.

Yet he couldn't find his way back to Raven Hair's den without a scent to follow, he still didn't know the area well, and so the only option was to walk on the black rocks. Flexing his toes momentarily, Kitsune stepped onto the path and sniffed the air delicately, picking up the Ill One's scent almost immediately, though she had weakened it since their first meeting. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he began tracking the scent back towards the Town's Square where at least then he could find his way back to the den. Shaking his head at how easy it was to follow Ill One's scent—the key to survival was to cover one's scent to keep enemies away, not make it unmistakable—Kitsune continued down the path with ease.

It wasn't long before the woodlands began to recede and the main park appeared along with the people of Konoha. Though he had been observing the other humans, he was still skittish of them and remained hidden whenever he was alone—which was a rare occasion anyway. Once the first sound of footsteps reached his ears, he quickly disappeared into the brush and began to travel beside the path instead of on it like he had been. He was close enough now to know somewhat where he was and began north-east towards the Town Square.

Kitsune crouched down and peered around the corner of the dark alley he was hidden in. The humans were beyond numerous in this area and were constantly moving from…what did they call it again? Ships? No… Kitsune frowned, shoops…shoaps… shops! Shops, the humans traded metal for food and other things, which he was still confused on.

Even after four moons with the humans, he had only learned enough of their language to get across what he needed usually but not enough to communicate freely with the creatures. They still didn't understand his need to hunt on the full moon, but to be honest with himself, neither did he. But he did understand that there was something that pulled him when the moon called to his soul and he could do nothing but follow. He remembered the one time he refused to answer the moon's call, it had been an ungodly hot day where even the shade gave no relief from the humidity. He had worn himself out during the day in search of food so when the moon rose he had no energy left for the Hunt.

That night had been the most agonizing night of his life. As the sun set and the full moon rose, all he felt was a need to hunt and an uneasiness in his soul. He had paced for hours at the mouth of the cave, only skittering away when pink flashed through the sky accompanied by the rumbling voice of the thunder (1). Yet as the night darkened, the uneasiness he felt grew and he found pacing no longer calmed him. Every bone in his body screamed for the Hunt and his muscles ached to run, but his head told him the smart thing to do was stay inside. And so, pressed into a corner of his cave, he sat shivering and whimpering while the fox demon within him fought with every ounce of strength it had to break free and lose itself within the Hunt. (2)

As the night wore on, the uneasiness turned into pain, sending spastic tremors up the young Kitsune's spine that had him howling in pain. Kyuubi screamed its rage from inside its living cage, lashing out its chakra and trying to overrun the barriers that kept him sealed away. The fox was almost insane with the need to join the Hunt and had forced its potent chakra through the young boy undeveloped chakra ways.

The result was Kitsune letting out a shrill, pain filled scream as the demon chakra burned through his veins, muscles, bones and very soul. His muscles contorted and Kitsune dropped to his knees, saliva sliding down his chin as the chakra disappeared. Tears trailing down the young boy's face—barely five moons old—Kitsune let his body fall to the ground, his breath heavy and labored as he fought the small tremors that still shook his small frame.

A couple seconds later, another scream was ripped from his throat as another onslaught of chakra was forced through his body. Curling into the fetal position, Kitsune whimpered and closed his eyes tightly shut, uncomprehending to what exactly was wrong or how to stop the pain. It continued throughout the night until Kitsune finally passed out from the pain and thus leaving Kyuubi free to control the child.

When Kitsune finally came to, he was still in his cave, but had a half eaten deer carcass beside him. Though in the back of his mind he wondered how the deer had come to be there, he was not one to question free food and easily gorged himself on the raw meat.

Kitsune only had a minute (3) warning that someone was behind him and he quickly twirled around, snarling and baring his teeth at the newcomer.

"Yo." The flippant wave told him everything he needed to know about Silver-Moon as the older human stood with his arms crossed and his single uncovered eye crinkled in amusement.

The young fox growled deeply and glared at the ninja. "What?" He snapped.

"I see Iruka-san still needs to work on your mannerisms." Silver-Moon answered with a sigh, his hair almost seeming to fall limp with disappointment.

"Kakakashi, what?"

"_Kakashi_" He said for the hundredth time. "It's Ka-ka-shi, not Ka-ka-ka-shi."

"Kakakashi."

"Kakashi."

"Kakakashi."

"No, Ka-ka-shi!"

Kitsune tilted his head, wasn't that what he was saying. "Kakakashi."

"_No!_" Silver-Moon huffed, "Ka…"

"Ka…" Kitsune repeated.

"Ka…"

"Ka."

"Shi."

"Shi."

Silver-Moon nodded, "Kakashi."

"Kakakashi."

Groaning, the poor human gave up and just accepted his fate. "Come on, Iruka has dinner ready."

"Ramen?" Kitsune asked brightly.

"No." Turning, he began to walk away, barely keeping an eye on the young fox boy that was following at his heels.

"No…Kitsune want ramen."

"Too bad."

Narrowing those blue eyes of his, Kitsune stomped his foot, "Ramen."

Kakashi turned to look over his shoulder at the glaring boy. This was proving more difficult than it should've been. How hard is it to retrieve a normal teenage boy? Okay, so he wasn't normal, but he was still a teenage boy…fox…er…thing. "Not today." He answered. Ever since he brought ramen home for supper that one night, Naruto had become close to obsessed over it, every time food was mentioned, the blonde would perk up and ask for ramen.

"Ramen." He repeated, his voice almost turning into a growl.

Sighing, Kakashi looked down his 'student'. "You can't live off of ramen, so the answers no. Another time."

"Now."

"No."

Naruto stood up to his full height, which wasn't that menacing anyway since he only came up to Kakashi's chest, and growled deep in his throat. His hands were curled into his fists at his side and those sky blue eyes darkened a shade. "Want. Ramen. Now!" With that said, Naruto launched himself at the jounin, certain if he could make the older man submit to him then he would get his ramen.

Kakashi easily dodged the first punch, expecting it, but barely sidestepped his roundhouse kick in the small alleyway. Cocking an eyebrow, he continued to back up step by step as the little brat bared his frustration at the man. "I said no, Naruto."

The boy's eyes flashed in anger at the name, he loathed that name, and it always made his head hurt and images pop into his head. Falling into a crouch, Naruto snarled at the man and launched himself at him.

Only to have the silver haired nin sidestep him and catch him by the hem of his pants. "Okay, I do believe you've had enough." Crinkling his eye into a smile, he raised his two forefingers on his right hand and held them before his lips. Naruto barely caught the movements as Kakashi began a one-handed jutsu and before he could protest, he found himself now dangling above wood floors.

Letting out a shriek, Naruto propelled himself away from Kakashi by pushing against the older man's chest with his feet and scrabbled away, eyes frantically looking about Sasuke's house. "W-where?" He asked.

"Sasuke's house."

"Sasuke?"

"Yes dobe, my house." A droll voice filled the room and Naruto looked over to the staircase where the dark shinobi was making his way downstairs. "Kakashi-sensei." He nodded his welcome before leaning against the wall to stare at the frantic boy. "What's wrong with him this time?" His voice was flat and despite his stoic expression, Kakashi could hear the underlying annoyance in his words.

"He didn't want to come and so I transported him here." Kakashi shrugged before strolling into the kitchen to see what Iruka was up to.

Sasuke watched as Naruto began sniffing the air, and the carpet…and the couch and the walls and the curtains and the door and the floors and scrolls and him. Snarling, Sasuke lightly kicked him away, almost as if he were a dog. "Tch, dobe."

"Teme." Naruto responded automatically.

A dark eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but other than that, Sasuke remained calm and collected. "Come on." He finally muttered after a moment's silence.

As they entered the kitchen, Iruka was just finishing setting the table. Looking up, he smiled brightly at the two boys and sat down in his seat across from Kakashi. "You two have perfect timing."

Sasuke 'tisked' but sat down silently, watching as Naruto quickly sat down on the other side, perched in his chair as usual. Everything began well, the rice and chicken were passed and taken as well as the dried fish and tangy sauce in silence, but it was Naruto who ruined the quiet evening.

"Not ramen." He pouted, staring down at his dish.

"Right, it's plain chicken…again." Sasuke muttered. Since they discovered Naruto's dislike for spices—make that revulsion—Iruka had cooked all the meats without spices, even pepper.

_"Naruto doesn't understand and so we shouldn't force him to eat seasoned meats if he doesn't like them." _

Sasuke snorted, it didn't matter if _he_ didn't like _un_seasoned foods, so why should it matter if Naruto does? And looking at the blonde boy picking at his food, Sasuke was certain he understood as well.

"Correct Kitsune," Iruka said, "It's not ramen."

"Kitsune _want_ ramen." He whined, his bottom lip forming a pout.

"Not tonight."

"Why?"

"Because you had some last night."

"Kitsune want ramen."

"No, now eat your dinner."

Snarling, Naruto threw the dish against the wall, glaring as the shattered pieces fell to the floor along with the remains of the meal. "No!"

Iruka stood up and glared down at the fox. "Uzumaki Naruto!" He yelled, making the blonde cringe. "If you _ever_ do that again, you'll never have ramen again!"

Perking at the word, Naruto looked up into Iruka's angry gaze. "Ramen?" He asked.

"_No_ ramen." Iruka repeated, "No ramen for many, many moons."

At the threat of his precious ramen being taken away, Naruto began to wail, loudly. His high pitched yipping and howling finally drove Sasuke to take his dinner outside and Iruka to collapse back into his chair wearily.

"Naruto—" He was interrupted by a shake of Kakashi's head. He watched as the silver jounin stood and left, following Sasuke outside.

Glancing from the doorway to Naruto, he finally sighed and left as well, closing the door as Naruto's wails got louder. Letting out a relieved sigh, he joined the other two on a bench and watched as the sun set behind Hokage Mountain.

"About time we got some peace and quiet." Sasuke muttered, staring up at the darkening sky.

"I just don't know what to do about his tantrums." Iruka said, shaking his head slowly. "Every time he learns a new word, he seems to have more of these episodes."

"Just leave him be. Let him have his tantrum and when he sees it has no affect on us, he'll stop." Kakashi shrugged.

"Oh really?"

"Hm."

As if to prove his point, the door opened and Naruto emerged meekly, his shoulders hunched and his face pointed towards the ground.

"Kitsune?" Iruka asked slowly.

Teary blue eyes looked up through blonde spikes, "Kitsune hungry." He whined pitifully.

"No ramen."

Sighing, Naruto seemed to accept it for now and cocked his head. "Food?"

"All right. Come on then." Standing, Iruka led Naruto back inside with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Let's get you something to eat." He smiled over his shoulder at Kakashi, looked like the lazy ninja finally showed he had a brain after all.

"When do our missions resume, Kakashi-sensei?"

Said jounin flopped back onto the grass, his hands behind his head and a completely relaxed look on his face. "We can do some minor ones, but it'll just be the three of us, Naruto can't join until Iruka finishes teaching him the basics of ninjitsu and who knows how long that might take."

Sighing, Sasuke stood, _how do I get stronger if all I can do is train and not gain any experience?_ Shoving his hands into his pockets, he muttered a quiet 'good night' and headed into the house. All the blonde dobe was, at least in his mind, was a hindrance and, glancing at the sulking boy, that's all he'd ever be.

Kakashi stood silently, watching as his pupil disappeared into the house. The stress of living with three others had finally gotten to him; he had been living alone for so long that anything resembling a family upset the stoic boy. Breathing deep of the night air, he spent a few minutes in silence before humming a quiet tone as he walked into the house.

He glanced at the dining room as Iruka sat beside Naruto and stopped momentarily to watch the blonde struggle with the chopsticks. Watching the young fox boy handling the wooden utensils was almost as hilarious as watching Sasuke trying to give him a bath. The look of concentration on that tanned face as he bit his tongue lightly was too cute for words and this was one of the times he wished he had a camera. The boy was so innocent, so naive and young that it surprised him sometimes that that kind of innocence was still alive.

But…

Kakashi was forced to remember that beneath the innocent boy was a caged demon, whose powers were inconceivable and evilness was beyond boundaries. When he had tracked down the two wayward boys in the forest, his first concern was for Sasuke since he was lying prone on the ground, but when he saw Naruto—no _Kitsune_—covered in blood and his eyes too old for his twelve years, he almost forgot about Sasuke. The boy that stood before him that night was no boy, no, that young man was a cold blooded killer and craved for the blood of a kill.

Naruto was truly an innocent boy whose grasp upon the world of shinobi was slowly increasing, but Kitsune was a killer, a wild and dangerous creature that would be untamable, no matter how tame others thought he was. He could hunt and kill without hesitation and Kakashi had no doubt that there were no qualms within the little fox's mind about taking the life of a human being, be it enemy or friend. In his world, it was truly kill or be killed and Kakashi was certain that he had faced much more pain than anyone his age, even more so than Sasuke.

As if sensing eyes upon him, Naruto suddenly stopped eating and turned to stare directly at him. Those blue eyes hardened to ice as they stared back at him and the set of his jaw made Kakashi believe there was much more to this boy than anyone had yet to surmise. Then just as quickly it appeared, the ice melted and shrugging, Naruto returned to his meal.

Iruka looked over his shoulder, giving Kakashi a quizzical look, but the silver nin could only raise his eyebrows in answer. What exactly just transpired was as enigmatic as Naruto himself and Kakashi had no doubt that it'd take him a while to figure out the mystery of Uzumaki Naruto.

-0-

Deep red eyes flicked around the dark cell, taking in the dampness and loneliness that had caged it for twelve years. Flicking its tails back and forth, Kyuubi stood and walked the boundary of its small cage, only large enough to allow it to turn around and lay down. Oh how it yearned to stretch its muscles, breath cool air and finally be in charge of its own destiny once more. It was tied to the weakling of a boy and despite its efforts, the boy always forced it back into its small cell for eternity…however long that was. When the boy died, so did it and that was one thought Kyuubi didn't want to entertain. It wanted to taste the blood on its lips once more, the warmth of raw meat and the joy of destruction and death.

Feeling the stirrings within its chakra, Kyuubi chuckled deep in its throat and smirked as the demon fox's unknowing host was soon to have one of the most terrifying nights of his life. Oh, it would certainly enjoy watching its host suffer and maybe this time, Kyuubi could finally take control.

Dhampir  
Page 8  
08-20-06

(1): If anyone's wondering about the lightning and thunder, it's heat lightening, not to be mixed up with a thunder storm.

(2): Usually I refer to Kyuubi as he, but for this fic I've decided to call him 'it' as to make it easier to distinguish between Kyuubi and Naruto/Kitsune.

(3): It's pronounced _my-noot_ not _min-nut_, it's quite a bit shorter than sixty seconds.

Den: A two sided hole beneath the ground that foxes tend to live in.

Moon Cycle: A moon cycle takes about 29.5 days and so about a month, it's Kitsune's way of telling how much time has passed.

End Note: To anyone who hasn't seen my profile, I had hand surgery about two months ago. The cast has just been removed and thus, my wpm dropped from 83 to less than 20. So it takes quite a while for me to type now, and the fact that I'm not supposed to be typing anyway. For more info, e-mail me or look at my profile!

Reviews: Wow, I have 460 reviews! Thanks guys.

Again, I only answer those reviews with questions, ideas or that I see I truly must comment on.

mangekyou kakashi: Hehe, that wasn't my real address, I promise! But you're right, it is quite dangerous to put info out on the web.

Gonrie: When I had started this fic, I was deciding, but the more I read on feral children and such, the more I believe this won't be a sasu-naru fic, it just doesn't seem to fit correctly. Sorry...

StromIV: I truly love Jane Lindskold, I do wish I could write like her, but here's wishing, right? Anyway, I have never been able to see Naruto and Hinata together despite what most people think, she's just too timid and I agree that in this story, Naruto is just too wild for there to be any serious relationship. Thank you as well for the compliments, that's what keeps me going.

Flaming Beauty: What will I come up with next? That's the same question I ask myself, though I do have the next chapter in the makings...sorta. It's in my head, but because I can't write at all and can't type very much, it'll take me a while. But thank you anyway for your kind words and I hope this wasn't a let down.

Kitsune Shinigami: Yes, Naruto will become a genin, but as in all my stories, I like to take things slow and so as I said in this chapter, there's still a lot Naruto has to learn before becoming a genin. One is using chakra.

faux nostalgia: Well, hopefully you had a happy birthday and everything! I'm glad I got it out in time for your b-day!

Itallia: I do agree with you. The more I write this story, the less I see Naruto being gay. I thought maybe Kakashi and Iruka still, but again, I believe Kakashi would be too uncommitted for it to work, so I'm not certain. Also, from what I've learned of most feral children, they never really commit anyway to a relationship, if they have one at all.

star-eml: No, I do not believe it'll become yaoi, so rest your mind, hehe.

crowkeeper990: No, I haven't abandoned this story, I've just had two hand operations, two casts and now three months of physical therapy. I'm not even supposed to be typing yet, but I just want to really get this out to you guys.

NeverRightNeverPerfect: I just wanted to write you a little something for all the reviews you have recently done. Thank you very much and your reviews are quite uplifting, I hope this chapter was not a disappointment.

FallingStAr: I'm sorry for the long updates in between, but again, as I said to crowkeeper990, I've been in a cast and I'll tell you that typing one handed is a slow, tedious and greatly annoying task. One that I usually gave up on because of all the spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. Anyway, sorry for the long update and I hope you still like the story.

Everyone else, thanks for your reviews and I hope you liked the chapter!

-Dhampir


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters, except for the one's I killed.  
**Note:** This is **not yaoi** nor will be, sorry to anyone who was looking forward to that.  
**Second Note:** This is slightly based upon the series _Through Wolf's Eyes_ by Jane Lindskold, which everyone should read and the newest installment is absolutely fantatstic.

**List o' names:**

Raven Hair: Sasuke  
Kitsune: Naruto  
Scar Nose: Iruka  
Silver-Moon: Kakashi  
Ill One: Sakura

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Twelve_

Sunset had long since passed and the dark sky was filled with deep, thunderous clouds. Candled lamps lined the streets and in the recesses of the shadows figures could be seen moving about. Rolling fog covered Konoha from the tops of houses to the dank alleyways and silence reigned the once bustling streets. Only the soft calls of an owl and the small rivulets of water rolling off the roofs from the last rain dared impede, adding to the eerie mood.

The clock struck ten and the loud metallic booming resonated throughout Konoha, bringing forth cloaked figures from the houses. Filling into the streets, neighbors joined neighbors and family joined friends as all ages and sizes began their slow trek towards Hokage Mountain. Not one made a noise, not by utterance of word or by step, and even the night wind raging against their cloaks remained hushed, the thick fabric wrapping around them as a shield.

Among these travelers were two highly respected shinobi dragging their charges behind them. One of the most treasured traditions of Konoha and these two were the only ones stuck with children who didn't want to go. There weren't many traditions outside of martial art styles that were kept, but this was one of them. On the longest night of the year, a celebration is held where the younger shinobi are tested and judged accordingly. The winner chose an older shinobi to be their mentor until the next longest night winner was chosen as well as received a day of special training from the Hokage himself and this tradition had been fulfilled for generations. The chuunins and jounins enjoyed the chance to scope out their future while the young genins were thrilled with showing off their skills.

Iruka sighed as his hold on Naruto's hand wavered once again. The damn fox child was insistent on disappearing and had already done it four times today, luckily he had found him each time within a few hundred yards of the house. He had planned to leave Naruto at home for this, but it soon became apparent after the third disappearance he wasn't going to be able to. Someone had to watch him and both Iruka and Kakashi were summoned—as was every shinobi—to attend the festivities. And so, he had to drag the fox along with them and he had yet to stop squirming.

He didn't know exactly what was going on, but Naruto had been acting very odd for the past two days and now, it was worse. If it wasn't for the fact that he was a chuunin, he would've lost Naruto on the first try. Even now, the fox child's nails were digging into his hand as he pulled and dug his heels into the ground so to get away from him. He even had two deep puncture wounds in his hand from where Naruto had bitten him.

And Sasuke wasn't much better, just less violent. The dark genin sulked behind them; his head hung low and his walk purposely slow as he was dragged along on this trek towards Hokage Mountain. When Iruka announced they were going, Sasuke glared at all of them before stating he wasn't going, vehemently.

Sasuke still didn't understand quite how he ended up wrapped in a cloak and becoming part of the stupid thing, but somehow he did. Kakashi made certain of that by threatening many months of boring workouts that did nothing to improve skill. He was a first year genin and all genin shinobi were expected to attend, no matter if they sulked or cheered. Yet he too had tried to sneak off twice until Kakashi took to walking beside him with a friendly hand on his shoulder. Sasuke then took to glaring at his 'keeper' for the remainder of the walk, though it didn't seem to faze the jounin's mood whatsoever.

The raven haired boy leaned back against the wall of a house and glared at the gathering of nin around him. This was just stupid and he refused to join in some pointless tradition that an idiot decided to create just to further torture the inhabitants of Konoha.

"Listen closely," Sandaime said, his voice hushed and yet carrying over the winds. "Look for where Hati chases the moon and there you will find the object you seek. But be careful! For there are dangers at every turn."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, yeah dangers alright, grown ninjas jumping out and scaring the younger ones like children.

Iruka grinned as the answer immediately surfaced in his mind as the genin puzzled over it. "Remember, this is about cunning and stealth so don't beat your opponents into the ground."

Well, there goes the last of the 'fun'. Sasuke thought sourly, but he had to admit, the prize could be worthwhile…

Lifting his hand, Sandaime held a handful of smoke balls and said before throwing them, "Let the night begin!"

The smoke cleared and only a few chuunin remained to watch the surrounding area while other ninjas spread out to watch the genin. Iruka was one of the few to stay behind, though his reasons were because of Naruto. He couldn't just drag Naruto around the city with him and he knew how badly he reacted to the use of chakra.

Sandaime looked at the two of them and crossed the stone street to stand beside them, "How is he?"

"He's getting there Hokage-sama." Iruka said with a slight bow, "Say hello Naruto."

But the fox child just glared at them from beneath his cloak, his eyes almost iridescent in the night.

"Iruka-san, are you bleeding?" Sandaime asked, eyes focused on the small hand wound dripping blood.

The chuunin slowly nodded and held his injured hand up, "We had a…disagreement."

"Oh?"

"It's nothing really, barely a flesh wound."

The older man cocked an eyebrow, "A flesh wound that's bleeding that much?"

"Okay, so more than a flesh wound, but I barely even notice it's there." Iruka replied, nibbling on his bottom lip. If Sandaime thought Naruto was a danger then they wouldn't hesitate in killing him, but so far he hadn't shown any signs that he would be.

"Iruka-san—"

"Iruka?" Naruto whispered, hands clenching tightly, "Moon calls…"

The chuunin looked down at the blonde, eyes worryingly searching his face. "Moon calls? But you can't see the moon tonight."

"Calls, calls, calls, calls, calls." He began to shake has the mantra fell from his lips until small whimpers interrupted the words.

"Naruto?" He reached a hand towards the fox child, but quickly retracted it as sharp teeth snapped at him. Yet he wasn't quick enough, those canines of his had ripped skin deeper than before and left a bloody trail in their wake. "Shit!" He whispered, letting go of the blonde in surprise, his other hand cradling the injured one against his chest.

"Iruka-san, get back!" Sandiame called, eyes narrowing as Naruto began to edge backwards.

The blonde's hood fell back and he stood up, no longer couching on the ground at their feet. Iruka's eyes widened in surprise at Naruto's height, the boy now stood a head taller than him and the clothes he wore seemed to have shrunk. His hair had grown longer, not by much, but it now reached his ears and fell around his face, making him look much older. His canines now peeked out between his teeth, tinged red from Iruka's blood, and the fox child—man—smiled at them. Reaching a hand up to sweep back his hair, Iruka immediately noted his claw-like nails and reached for his weapons.

"Ah, ah, ah." Naruto—no, _Kyuubi_—tsked, his still blue eyes watching them with amusement. "It's not nice to attack your charge, Iruka-_nii_."

"You're not Naruto." He said, eyes narrowing.

"I'm not? How sad." The fox slowly licked his lips, tasting Iruka's blood on them. He closed his eyes and smiled at the salty yet satisfying taste of blood, letting out a small moan. "I must say, your blood is certainly sweet." He said, opening his eyes to look at Iruka.

Deep red eyes stared back at him, the pupils dilated and large with bloodlust. "How…?" He whispered, there was supposed to be no way Kyuubi could gain freedom and yet he was staring at the embodiment of the fox demon, even if it was Naruto's body.

"Stupid humans, didn't you know the seal was corrupt from the beginning? I'm not some idiot." The fox sighed, staring at his elongated nails with boredom.

Iruka narrowed his eyes and rushed Kyuubi, kunai in hand, but he didn't even have the chance to get near it before he found himself being thrown back. A hand gripped his wrist and before he could even focus on that, he was thrown into a wall and his wrist snapped. Screaming, Iruka felt a knee connect with his stomach and a fist connect with his jaw. Making a sign with his good hand, Iruka was able to avoid Kyuubi's next attack and stumble away from the fox demon.

Turning, Kyuubi smirked at the injured man; he hadn't even lasted a minute and was already retreating. "You must have someone more challenging than this." He mocked, flippantly waving towards Iruka.

Sandaime narrowed his eyes, but stepped in front of Iruka and watched the demon warily. How he had suddenly gained so much control over Naruto was puzzling and dangerous, he couldn't allow the child to live if Kyuubi could take over control whenever it became convenient. Yet Kakashi had said when Kyuubi tried to take control, it wasn't a pretty process or an easy one, usually resulting in agonizing screams coming from Naruto. "How were you able to surface demon?" He asked in an even voice, readying himself for an attack if one should come.

"How?" Kyuubi asked, cocking his head. "You know one should never reveal his tactics Hokage, so why should I tell you?"

"That seal should've held for all eternity, tying you to Naruto until his last breath and beyond. You were to never awaken nor were you to gain freedom from your prison." Sarutobi said, slowly reaching into his robes for his weapons.

"It should've? Hm, I do believe you have to work on that." The fox grinned, "But I believe you have bigger problems on your hands than wondering how I escaped. Don't you think so?"

"So it seems."

"Hokage-sama?" A chuunin asked, edging towards the man.

Sandiame glanced at him and ordered, "Stay behind me." Turning his attention back to Kyuubi, he stumbled back when he came face to face with the demon.

"You shouldn't take your eyes off an enemy, human." He smiled, his canine's shining in the darkness.

Glaring, he touched his lips and whispered, "Katon," fire erupting from his mouth towards Kyuubi.

The fox didn't move as the fire approached him, his smile widening as the flames engulfed him. Sarutobi ceased his attack and looked carefully at the charred stones and smoke. "Using fire against a demon fox doesn't exactly work, since we thrive in it." The voice whispered next to his ear before he found himself pressed into the ground. Kicking him in the side, Kyuubi stared dispassionately down at the man, his eyes calculating and distant.

"Hokage-sama!" A man whispered, rushing to the aid of his fallen leader, but a roundhouse kick sent him spiraling back.

"Hmph, this is too easy." Kyuubi muttered as the man's skull made a sickening crack against the stone wall of a house. Turning his attention back Sarutobi, he crouched beside the old man and smirked. "Do you even know how demons work, human?"

Lifting his head, Sarutobi glared at those blood red eyes, leaping away from the fox with as much grace as he could muster. He immediately armed himself for an attack, but was surprised to find Kyuubi still crouched on the ground. "You are elemental creatures and since you're a fire elemental, your weakness is water."

"Used to be water." He smirked, "I am a fire being, true, but even this despicable body has it uses and it is not susceptible to water as my former body was."

"What? But the fire didn't affect you either!" He hissed.

"On a normal night, it might've, but this isn't."

Sarutobi frowned, the damn fox was speaking in riddles now. He didn't dare risk taking his eyes off the demon, but staring at him wasn't getting him anywhere either. "It's a full moon." He finally said, eyes narrowing in concentration. A demon's abilities waxed and waned with the moon, growing to full strength with the rise of the full moon and cresting with its setting.

"Ah, but not just any full moon, tonight is the night of the Red Moon." Kyuubi grinned, slowly standing. "The Bloodlust Moon I've heard it called and I see from your expression you have too." Chuckling, the demon fox clicked his nails against a lamp post, "A rare phenomenon, one that only passes every twelve decades and it happens that tonight it is in at its pinnacle and my powers have grown exponentially."

Though he had never seen it before, the Red Moon was something spoken in demon lore and it was said that on such a night a demon's abilities multiplied threefold. It was also said that on the night of the Bloodlust Moon, demons were overtaken with a yearning for blood to the point of insanity and looking at the gleam in Kyuubi's eyes, he had to agree with the myth. Fear gnawed at the back of his mind as he forced himself to face the demon fox head on, his hands delving into his robes and returning with two scrolls. "Iruka-san," he said, not even looking at the injured ninja, "warn the others and get the children to safety, hurry."

Iruka nodded, holding his limp arm against his chest and leaping up to the rooftops, ignoring the pain lacing through his shoulder. He didn't like leaving the Hokage to face Kyuubi alone, but he didn't have much of a choice considering his injuries and the other three nins—a chuunin and two jounin—had more of a chance of helping the Hokage than he did.

Kyuubi smirked at the retreating figure and cocked his head towards Sarutobi, "Do you really believe that hiding the children will protect them from me? If I wanted to drink their blood, I would have no problem tracking them and slaughtering them."

"Leave them alone demon!" Sarutobi growled, releasing his first scroll, the words glowing in amber as he recited them by heart. Water erupted from the paper, surrounding Kyuubi and covering him until he couldn't be seen by the raging waters. Releasing his second scroll, he sealed the water into a self sustaining bubble and waited for the waters to slow to reveal Kyuubi trapped inside.

"Almost got me that time." He smirked, tilting his head.

Sarutobi gasped as he saw his own ninja trapped inside the bubble, quickly breaking the seals on both jutsus and thus freeing the young kinouchi. She fell to her knees, coughing and spitting up water while heaving in breaths of air. "I will kill you." He whispered, his hands trembling slightly as he wracked his brain for another strategy. Fire jutsus were useless and it became apparent that the demon could easily escape a jutsu anyway, which left taijutsu, genjutsu and weapons.

He had become the Hokage not because he was one of the strongest ninjas Konoha had, but also because he was one of the wisest. He led his village and kept the peace between the people of neighboring villages, he rarely fought anymore and with age came the waning of said abilities. Yet he wasn't about to let the demon kill his people, the Yondaime had defeated this demon by sacrificing his life and though he was free, he was limited to a human body.

Kyuubi's eyes narrowed, "You'll kill me? You don't have nearly enough to do that." Reaching out, he grabbed the kinouchi and brought her to her feet by her hair. Smiling, he slowly ran his claws across her neck, not even leaving a mark across the woman's pale skin, and then dropped her again.

"Ritsuko, move!" He yelled, trying to get the girl to move, but he could only look in horror as drips of blood began to fall to the ground. Looking up at him, her eyes wide with terror, blood poured from the cut on her neck until she fell to the ground dead in a puddle of her own blood.

"Pity, if she hadn't looked up, that cut wouldn't have ripped open and she could still be alive." Kyuubi drawled, nudging the girl with his toe. Yawning, he divested the dead girl of her weapons pouch and dumped the contents on the ground, finding nothing of interest in it. "This is becoming boring."

Sarutobi growled, his eyes glaring dangerously at the demon. "You will pay for that."

"I will? And who's going to do it, you?" He laughed. Stooping down, he picked up a kunai covered in the girl's blood and twirled it around his hand. "She's certainly not up for it." He added sarcastically.

"We will." A voice answered as shinobi poured out from the shadows, weapons drawn and pointed towards Kyuubi.

"Ah, finally, something fun." Kyuubi grinned while flipping the kunai into the air. Catching it by the point, he cocked his head and threw it in a random direction. Ninjas scattered and Kyuubi soon found a barrage of weapons flying towards him. Gracefully moving, Kyuubi sidestepped the attack with an ease that put everyone else at unease. His keen hearing allowed him to hear the weapon cutting through the wind seconds before it would reach him and seconds was more than enough time to dodge the objects.

Iruka watched from the back with Sarutobi, he knew he would only get in the way if he tried to fight but if he was called to then he would. If only he hadn't brought Naruto out…but he'd probably be dead and there'd be no one to warn the village of the impending demon attack. At least here Kyuubi was in the open and the few jounin that weren't on missions were now in the ranks of those defending the village. Iruka cringed as blood splattered the stones, a foolish chuunin had rushed him and now lay dead beside the girl—both whom he had taught four years ago.

Kyuubi shook the blood of his hand with distaste, ugh, it smelled polluted and there was no way he'd try that. A soft scuffle alerted him to the next victim and he turned to face him head on, ducking beneath the ninja as his claws ripped through fabric and to the soft flesh beneath it. He jerked his hand towards him and watched as the man's shocked face turned into one of horror as his insides began to leak from the wound on his abdomen.

A scarred ninja appeared beside the man and with a puff of smoke disappeared with the injured ninja. Kyuubi smirked, eyes glinting red in the dark as he surveyed his enemy. Two jounin strength ninjas were left—excluding the Hokage—and the other twelve were chuunin. "Where are the children?" He murmured, head tilting as if trying to hear better.

"It's none of your concern demon." Someone spat, kunai drawn in a defensive stance.

Kyuubi grinned, canines snapping together. "Oh? But then who shall inform them of their fallen comrades?"

"Stay away from them." Another said, the woman's voice trembling.

"Are one of them yours perhaps? I bet his blood is so sweet and to hear his last breath will be music to my ears." He taunted, licking one bloody knuckle as if it were the son he spoke of.

"Don't you lay one fucking hand on them!" Another yelled, charging Kyuubi with three others behind him.

Smirking, he met them halfway, dancing around his prey with a grace that couldn't belong to this world. Iruka watched transfixed as the fox demon slipped beneath his comrades' guards as if he were anticipating their moves like a choreographed ballet. Trembling with fear and rage, Iruka watched as shinobi and kinouchi died one after the other by his hand and they had yet to scratch the demon.

_Is this the power of the Kyuubi?_ Iruka thought as he forced himself to watch as Kyuubi reached his hand through a kinouchi's neck and another's chest. Jumping, the demon placed a foot on either ninja and pushed them back, thus freeing his hands and ridding the area of bodies to fight the next ninjas. Though the demon was covered in blood, none of it was his own and from the looks of it, none of it would be.

The only warning Kyuubi had was the slight whistling, but that was all he needed. Flipping back, Kyuubi skidded across the stones and glared up at the ninja who attacked him. A small trickle of blood escaped from the cut on his cheek, but he ignored it and stood to face the jounin before him.

Sharingan spinning, one red/black eye and one silver stared back at him from beneath a mop of silver hair. Kakashi held a scroll in one hand and a shiruken in the other, his back tense as he waited for the demon to make his move.

Slowly standing, Kyuubi touched the blood on his cheek and smirked evilly at his newest victim. "Congratulations, you seem to have injured me."

"Where's Naruto?" He demanded, flipping the shiruken backwards so he could open the scroll if needed.

"Naruto? Oh yes, your little feral child. He's here…but I don't really think he wants to come out."

"Release your hold on him, demon, and you can live."

Kyuubi lifted an eyebrow, "Ah, but for me to do that, you must release me human, so please do and I will let you have your little 'foxling' back."

Kitsune huddled in the back of the room, his body trembling as he pressed himself into the corner. The room smelled of mildew and blood, but it was so dark he could barely see. Metal tree branches_[1]_ blocked the only opening to the dank den and any time he approached them he felt weighed down by something he couldn't comprehend. And so he stayed shadowed in darkness where it was safe. Whimpering, he brought his knees to his chest and closed his eyes as tears threatened to spill. There was no sound except for his own breathing and he felt so weak, more so than when he didn't eat for a six moons. He could no longer see through the dark or smell what kind of blood had been spilled and it scared him to be without what he knew.

Flinching, Kitsune sat up at the sudden pain on his cheek. Something warm and liquid dripped from his cheek and he touched it slowly, bringing his fingers to his nose. The scent of his own blood was strong and he quickly wiped it on the stones, his eyes scanning for an enemy nearby, but he couldn't see anything. Carefully standing, Kitsune neared the tree branches, eyes darting around the den for whatever attacked him and yet there were no other movements.

Fighting the sudden weight added onto his small frame, Kitsune pressed towards the branches and peered into the corridor before him. Trying to peer between the bars, Kitsune leaned forward and found himself flying back into the wall behind him. His head snapped back against the wall and he slumped to the ground in pain. Blood trickled down his neck as he remained on the floor in a daze, the back of his head throbbing from the impact.

Kakashi stood back, eyes surveying the demon crouched on the ground a few yards away from him. Bricks fell away from the house he was slammed into but it didn't seem to affect the Kyuubi as he stood up and brushed off his clothing. "Damn it." He whispered, breaking the seal on the scroll.

Kyuubi rolled his shoulders and grinned, "Things are beginning to look up it seems." Before Kakashi could follow the demon's movements, Kyuubi was right beside him, that grin still in place. He tried to block those clawed hands, but only had the chance to deflect them from his neck before he felt them bite into the side of his arm. Yet he turned into Kyuubi's attack and used the palm of his hand to slam upwards into the blonde's chin while flipping the kunai around and leaving a gash on Kyuubi's right side. He then brought his knee up and jammed it into the new wound before slipping beneath Kyuubi's arm and moving back.

The demon seethed and glared at the ninja, eyes glowing with rage. Straightening his back, Kyuubi brought his hands up into fists and sloped down to the ground while sprinting towards him. He avoided the bloodied kunai and slammed his closed fist into the ninja's stomach before pivoting and kicking him in the side as Kakashi had done earlier to him.

Kakashi rolled across the ground, but he was on his feet before he stopped and speeding back towards the demon. Releasing the scroll, he incanted the spell and watched as chains spread from parchment towards Kyuubi. Only two of the six chains were able to connect, but it was enough to hinder the demon's movements. Holding tight to the scroll, Kakashi landed a barrage of blows upon Kyuubi while the chains sapped at the demon's strength. Using the chains as leverage, Kakashi pulled the demon to him and placed the kunai at his throat, "Will you leave?"

Though blood seeped from his split lip and he looked like he could barely stand, Kyuubi grinned and whispered, "No."

Moving the blade up, Kakashi nicked the demon's neck before he heard the chains snap and felt the air expel from his lungs as claws scratched at his armor. He could barely move in time before another blow landed somewhere on his body and despite his attempts to escape, somehow Kyuubi followed behind him.

The fox demon continued to rain hits upon the ninja, claws ripping at the fabric until blood soaked through the black clothing. Kyuubi smirked down at his tired prey and stooped down beside him, his nose centimeters away from Kakashi's. "You were the Yondaime's pupil, weren't you?" He asked, eyes calculating.

Kakashi kept silent, but used the moment to retrieve a kunai from his pouch. He was certain his ankle was broken as well as a couple ribs and he didn't even want to think about the amount of blood he had lost so far.

"You are! I recognize you, though you were a bit smaller then." He chuckled, as he leaned back. "Well, at least I can get some kind of revenge upon that bastard." Flexing his hand, Kyuubi brought it back to strike Kakashi one last time when someone grabbed his wrist and pulled. Snarling, Kyuubi craned his neck to see his opponent and slammed the flat of his hand into the man's chest.

Sarutobi grunted at the contact, but held firm, dragging the demon away from Kakashi. "Your fight is with me."

Twisting up, Kyuubi slid behind the man and gracefully reversed their positions. "I think not. You're washed out, admit it, and your strength lies within fire jutsus, which don't work on me."

"Then fight me." Kakashi whispered, springing up from the ground and lodging the kunai into Kyuubi's stomach, twisting the blade to cause more damage.

The fox didn't even flinch as he absentmindedly thrust the Hokage away to turn towards his original prey. Grabbing the kunai, he pulled it out and wielded it as a sword towards Kakashi.

Metal clashed and slid against each other as the two danced around each other, but Kyuubi was just a bit faster, a bit stronger and a '_bit'_ older even if he hadn't fought in a more than a decade. Slipping beneath Kakashi's guard and tilting their blades up, Kyuubi slugged Kakashi in the stomach and danced away again just as gracefully as before, despite his injuries.

Kakashi glared and decided it was time to end the fight, but he still felt like he was missing something vitally important. Putting a good amount of distance between them, Kakashi focused on moving all his chakra to his right hand and forming it into a ball of electricity. The Chidori was the quickest way to get this battle over with and that's exactly what he planned to do. Half the chuunins lay dead on the ground before him while most of those who were left were injured and the Hokage, though strong, just didn't have the strength and stamina he had before.

The other jounin were protecting the children and the few who weren't injured were tending to the wounded, leaving him and the other chuunin to deal with the demon. And he could defeat him, but he needed a little more time. Though he kept his eyes on Kyuubi, he continued to build the small Chidori in his hand, willing it to collect to its mature form.

Kyuubi narrowed his eyes and charged the ninja, only to be blocked by another ninja. A wall of earth appeared before him and only the slight trembling of the ground alerted him to the next pillar appearing. Rolling out of the way, he quickly disposed of the shinobi only to find another one standing in his way. Growling, he ducked beneath the spray of water and flipped the woman over his back and continued towards his prey. But by then it was too late, Kakashi had finished.

Gripping the spinning ball of electricity, Kakashi rushed towards Kyuubi, Sharingan spinning and dead set upon the fox demon. The fox stared with a look of surprise on his face at the sudden increase of Kakashi's speed as he came barreling towards him, but even moving proved useless as the ninja copied his every movement.

Those red eyes widened as the Chidori slammed into his chest and there was nothing he could do to block it. His body went limp and he fell to the ground as that chakra literally short circuited his muscles. Blood welled from his chest and mouth as he stared up at the panting ninja, smoke coming off his hand. The smell of burning flesh filled the air and Kyuubi felt his control slipping as Naruto struggled within to gain some kind of control.

"You lose, demon." Kakashi said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Lose?" He croaked, still smiling. "Oh, I still win in the end, who do you think was suffering from your attacks? Certainly not me." He laughed, eyes fading to blue. His eyes dilated and an inhuman scream ripped from his throat as an aura of blue chakra flared up.

Kakashi leapt away and readied himself for another attack, but the demon never got up. Instead, the flare died down and revealed a young boy with numerous cuts and blood soaking the ground with every second. Hesitantly, Kakashi approached the figure and stared into clear blue eyes hazed with pain.

"Kakashi?" He whispered, before his eyes rolled back and he promptly passed out.

Dhampir  
12/08/06  
Page 11

**Hati Hrodvitnisson:**_ This is from Norse mythology. There is Skoll and Hati Hrodvitnisson and these are the two wolves who chase the sun and moon, thus bringing about sunrise and sunset. It is said that when Skoll catches the sun is when the world shall be destroyed. Just a little history there._

_[1]_ The metal tree limbs are the bars over the Kyuubi's cage.

Sorry everyone, my modem died and then I took a long time trying to write the fighting scenes. You wouldn't believe how many times I rewrote it…

Anyway, I'm tired so I'll have to wait to do reviews next time, but thanks for all of them, I love each one.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** This is based loosely on the _Firekeeper_ Series by Jane Lindskold. Everyone should read those!

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Thirteen_

The three men could do little more than watch as the poor blonde child began to scream once again, his body arching upward in pain. If they listened close enough, they'd hear another voice screaming beneath the guttural cries of the Kyuubi demon, this one more of a child's wail than anything else. Though Naruto had gained control that night, something weakened in the blonde's control and now both were fighting tooth and nail to conquer the other.

The blonde had scared them all when he collapsed after the fight, blood slipped from his body as if water from a bubbling brook, but even as Kakashi picked Naruto up to rush him to the hospital, his wounds were already healing, faster than anything they had ever seen. Before his eyes bone and muscle mended and flesh appeared over the bloody wounds that by the time they reached the hospital, he hadn't a cut on him.

Chains scraped and clinked against the stone floor as the Kyuubi raged at his living prison, bringing the Hokage out of his thoughts. He watched in silence as the thin body heaved and twisted every which way, the two souls fought for dominance. Whoever became the victor in the end would decide the blonde's fate; this was one battle Naruto could not lose.

Already there was talk amongst the Elders that the child should just be killed and forgotten, but the Sandaime had been able to deter them for now. Unfortunately though, the parents of the dead shinobi and kinouchi were calling for vengeance and the blood of Naruto—or Kitsune to others—to be spilt as payment. Other parents were rallying that their children weren't safe and to exile the young child at the least, though most were also calling for his execution.

Kakashi sighed as the blonde fox collapsed in exhaustion, his body no longer able to sustain the fighting souls. Raking back his silver hair, he looked towards the fretting Iruka and then to Sarutobi, who tapped the head of his staff slowly. "How long?"

"Two days, if we're lucky. It's already been over a week and the Kyuubi is getting closer to control each day." The old man answered, puffing his pipe slowly.

"Do you think Naruto will survive that long?" Iruka asked, his eyes never leaving Naruto's worn body.

The Hokage sighed, turning away, "We can only hope."

Grabbing his shoulder, Iruka pleaded, "There has to be some way to help him! Isn't there anything we can do?"

"We have exhausted our resources Umino-san." He answered tiredly, "I have tried to change the seal but Kyuubi will not let me close enough to do so and there is no one here that is strong enough."

"But…"

"The Kyuubi was right, because I am Hokage, I no longer have the time to practice or to even think about missions. I'm no longer as strong as I used to be, Iruka-san, and until we can find someone stronger than me, there is nothing we can do."

Iruka hung his head in defeat. "I know, but it's so hard to watch him suffer like that…" But they all knew that a sleep jutsu couldn't be allowed because it left Kitsune's guard down, which could possibly allow the Kyuubi to take control and that couldn't be allowed.

The older man turned to the chuunin, "I have sent out envoys to every village, Umino-san, we will find someone to help him. I possess the knowledge, but no longer the strength to help him. All we can do is wait and hope Naruto can hold control over the demon until we find a solution."

Kakashi nodded, "He's strong, he'll hold on until his very last breath, but Kyuubi has no known weakness except mortality through Naruto."

Sarutobi sighed, eyes downcast as he thought aloud, "I don't believe mortality is an issue any longer. As a fire demon, Kyuubi had a weakness to water, but it seems to no longer affect him as long as he's in control and apart of Naruto's body…"

"Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked, worrying over his bottom lip.

"Have you noticed how quickly he heals? Within seconds, any injury he has just disappears and it doesn't even faze him." He explained, "With that kind of regeneration, I'm no longer certain he is subject to death, unless execution."

Kakashi tilted his head slightly, "So then, he could live for centuries…"

"Demons are Elemental creatures, Hatake-san, they do not die unless by will, execution or by another demon. What I am saying is that he could live forever."

Water bubbled lightly from a small brook at the edge of town and a lone man sat beside the stream with a book in one hand and a sandwich in the other. His white hair fell to his shoulder's and he starched the top of his head with a finger as he continued reading, a look of concentration on his face. "No, no, no, that's all wrong…" he muttered as he shoved the sandwich into his mouth and grabbed a pen from his satchel to write in the book. Nodding, he took the sandwich from his mouth and proceeded to finish eating it while continuing to read.

He let another few minutes pass before sighing and pointing over his shoulder at a tree a few yards away. "Are you going to come out yet?"

"Sir!" A young shinobi saluted as he appeared beside the older man. Looking over the man's shoulder, he scanned the open book and quickly averted his eyes as a blush stained his cheeks.

"Are you going to continue to stand there or tell me what you want? If you want an autograph, you'll just have to wait a while because I'm busy."

"U-um, no sir—"

Looking up, the man glared at him, "Are you saying you _don't_ want my autograph?"

"Not at all, sir! I'd be honored t-to have your autograph, but t-that isn't why I'm here." The younger man answered adamantly, his face pallid as he cautiously backed away.

Holding his glare for a few more seconds, he finally snapped his book shut and stood, stretching his back as he did so. "Oh, then what is it?"

"Is it…?"

"Why are you looking for me." He added flatly.

"Oh! Hokage-sama has called you back and sent me to find you." The young man said, handing over a scroll that had been in looped through his belt at the small of his back. "He told me to give this to you."

Gingerly taking the white scroll, he looked at the red insignia on the front and sighed as he saw his name written beneath it. Breaking the seal, he unfurled the scroll with caution, his eyes warily reading the message inside. "It's an official summons to return to Konohagakure, but why?" He whispered to himself as he rolled the scroll back up. Looking at the ninja standing before him, he cocked his head slightly and sighed, "Has anything happened as of late?"

The black haired man nodded, "Hai. A demon attacked about a week and a half ago, killing seventeen people before we were able to contain the beast."

"What demon?"

"No one knows…it seemed to have no weakness, but we still overcame the beast. Yet Hokage-sama hasn't executed it yet even though the towns are rioting for its death. After all, it killed many of our loved ones."

Frowning, the white haired man bent down to pick up his satchel, "If that's all you know, then I guess I have no choice but to return and ask the old man what he wants, but it better be worth my time."

"Only the Sandaime can answer that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just lead the damn way, okay?" He said, rolling his eyes.

"Hai!" Saluting, he disappeared into the trees.

Letting his shoulders droop, the older man ran a hand through his shaggy hair and set to the trees, "I'm not training any teams." He growled, "I'm too old to deal with those brats."

"Hokage-sama! Sandaime, he's arrived!" The young black haired ninja yelled, grinning.

Looking up from his desk, Sarutobi rubbed his face and focused his tired eyes on the energetic shinobi standing in his office. "Who has arrived?" He asked, weariness in his voice as he bookmarked his latest book on demonology.

"Jiraiya-sama, I found him and brought him back just as you asked."

"He's here?" His eyes widened with surprise as he stood up and grabbed his staff to balance himself. "Now?"

"Well, you did summon me…" Jiraiya drawled, stepping into his office, "So now that I'm here, mind explaining what this is all about?"

Coming from behind his desk, he moved to greet his old student and study the man who had at one point been one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha. Then he began to travel and was placed on inactive on call duty, thus allowing him to only be called only when the Hokage needed him. "It's good to see you; it's been too long since you last visited."

"Hai," Jiraiya sighed, shaking his old sensei's hand, "I love traveling, but I miss Konoha."

"If only it were under different circumstances, this might have been a more joyous occasion." Sarutobi sighed, gesturing Jiraiya to come further into his office.

"Better circumstances?" He asked, his brow furrowing with confusion. "Your summons didn't tell me anything more than to come here, so I know nothing about more than that and a demon attack from almost two weeks ago."

Turning to the young ninja, Sarutobi motioned for him to come closer. "Inform Hatake-san and Umino-san that Jiraiya-san has arrived. They should be residing at Uchiha Manor."

Saluting, he said "Hai!" and left immediately to track down the two ninjas.

"Hold on…Kakashi and Iruka are residing at the Uchiha Manor? What the heck has happened since I last visited?"

"Quite a lot, Jiraiya."

"So, why am I here?" Jiraiya asked as he followed his old sensei further into his office.

Yet Sarutobi remained quiet until he had firmly shut the door behind them and settled on the couch. Placing his staff to the side, Sarutobi brought the key out from beneath his shirt and held the chain it was connected to up for Jiraiya to see. "So you heard about the demon attacking here?"

The white haired man shrugged, "Only enough to know a demon attacked and that you are apparently holding it somewhere."

Dropping the key to lie against his chest, he nodded, "We have captured him and I refuse to execute him just yet, which is why I've called you."

"You want me to execute him?" Jiraiya asked, an incredulous look on his face. "You called me back here to kill a demon?"

"No, I called you here to save a child."

"_Child_?"

"Hokage-sama!" Iruka's voice carried through the halls seconds before he began knocking incessantly on the door. "Please, tell me what's wrong with Naruto? Is he worse? Better? Has he awakened? Has the Kyu—"

"Umino-san, you cannot speak of these things." Sarutobi said harshly as he opened the door, eyes darting to the young chuunin whom had fetched the teacher as well as the two Anbu who were guarding his door.

Iruka had the decency to blush red with embarrassment as he bowed deeply, "My humblest apologies, but please…I need to know if he's…changed!"

"Thank you Miyake-san, you are dismissed." The Sandaime said to the chuunin, waiting until the green haired man was out of sight before turning to the scarred ninja who was trembling with worry. "Umino-san, please calm down. Nothing has changed, but I called for you and Hatake-san to meet my old student, Jiraiya."

"He didn't even wait long enough for your messenger to finish speaking, Hokage-sama, so I don't think telling him to calm down will do any good." Kakashi muttered through his mouth covering, walking coolly into the room. He leaned against the closest wall and crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head slightly to assess Jiraiya. "This is about as calm as he gets anyway."

"Naruto?" Jiraiya murmured, becoming more confused with every passing minute. "Kyu…?" His eyes widened, "Not Kitsune no Kyuubi! I thought that demon has been dead these past seven years."

"Did you think to leave me behind, kouken _1_?" A sarcastic voice added and everyone turned to see the dark figure walking into the room. Even though he wore blue and white, on his days off, Sasuke could be caught wearing black or navy blue, usually the former though. And today was no different as the genin stood before the men in black shorts, a black shirt and black gloves on his hands to protect his hands in case something called for his talents. "Mind explaining Naruto's problem to me?" He asked, leaning against the opposite wall of Kakashi. He had heard some things, but nothing solid and he couldn't get anything from the older ninjas. Unfortunately, he had slipped away after the Hokage sent the other children running and spent most of the night in the nearby forest practicing. By the time he returned, everything had ended and there was talk going around about a demon attacking.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm afraid this is confidential…" Sarutobi started, receiving the Uchiha's well known glare at full force.

"I respect you, Hokage-sama, but Naruto is living in my house and therefore that entitles me to any and all information concerning him. I will not risk my heritage for that idiot and so I am permitted to know about the problems surrounding my tenant."

Jiraiya smirked, the kid certainly knew what he talking about and exactly how to extract the information he wanted. He'd certainly make a good ninja, most likely Captain too. Yet the light mood couldn't last any longer and, clearing his throat, the white haired man turned the conversation back to the matter at hand. "So who's Naruto? And what has his whereabouts to do with the Kitsune no Kyuubi? Which brings me to my next question, what the hell is the Kyuubi doing alive?"

"Come with me." Sarutobi said, motioning the four men to follow him out the door and to the left. Walking silently down the halls, he opened a hidden door near his office and walked down the two person wide stairwell. The others followed in silence, though Jiraiya looked curiously around, a frown on his lips. He had visited this place once before when he first became an Anbu Captain, but he hadn'tever had the reason to visit this place again. As far as he knew, it was rarely ever used and only when there was someone being held who was extremely dangerous, too dangerous to be held in the normal high security cells.

Most would expect a dungeon like hidden prison, but the tiled floors were swept clean and the halls were brightly lit. The space wasn't large, only a single hall with three doors and two double sided windows, but then the times they had to use this prison could probably be counted on one hand. The hall was large enough for three people to walk side by side, no more, and the door behind them had to be open either by a key or someone from the other side. No one had ever escaped from these cells, but a demon had never been held in one either, they could only hope Naruto would continue to fight.

The Sandaime stopped at the last cell where two Anbu stood watch, he nodded to them as they moved aside so he could access the door. "Jiraiya, be alert and ready for anything We don't know what he's capable of." He warned as he inserted the key and turned until three clicks could be heard. Then, opening the door, he stepped aside and ushered Jiraiya through the door.

Jiraiya frowned but entered the dark room without hesitance. He trusted his old sensei with his life and even if he was being sent to his death, he was certain that the reason behind it was well worth it. That didn't make it any easier to walk into a darkened cell with an unknown amount of danger. The darkness surrounding him was a startling difference from the brightly lit hall and he paused to let his eyes adjust. Yet he refused to close them for a second as he vainly searched the cell for movement, but it was his hearing that answered him instead of his sight. The scraping of metal across the stone floor was quickly following by the light clinking of chains, a low growl emitting through the darkness. Focusing on where he heard the noise, Jiraiya poised himself to defend against the demon if he chose to attack.

"Why aren't the lights coming on?" Iruka asked as he and the others watched through the observation window. Each of them, excluding Sasuke, had already tried to approach the tormented child, but the Kyuubi had achieved in keeping them away. Even those sent from other villages were unable to approach Kitsune let alone defeat the Kyuubi who was torturing the young boy; two had even died in their attempts.

"Kyuubi." Sarutobi sighed, "During the last attack, it did something to literally change the landscape of the prison cell."

"When?" Kakashi asked, pulling his eye patch up to let both eyes trace through the darkness.

"Last night, when Kitsune collapsed." He muttered, looking down at his hands, "I tried having the lights replaced and even bringing in other light sources, but they stop working once you pass that threshold."

"Why not just kill it?" Sasuke muttered, his back leaning against the wall. "It'd solve everyone's problems and finally end that creature's life."

"Sasuke." Kakashi warned, "That 'creature' saved your life once in the forest and twice as of two weeks ago along with the rest of the village. If it wasn't for Kitsune, the Kyuubi would have killed us all by now."

He snorted, "I would've survived."

"Admitting weakness is a strength in itself, Sasuke-kun." Iruka answered quietly.

"I have no weakness to admit." He snapped, glaring dangerously at the chuunin.

"Enough." Sarutobi ordered, finality in his voice. "You will not speak to your superiors in such a tone, Sasuke-kun, and neither will you speak of Kitsune as you have. He is not a creature, but a boy who has had a burden too large to bear alone placed upon him. And he must bear it alone, only he knows the torments and pains of containing the Kyuubi and he needs our support as well as our understanding. But do not mistake this as weakness, for if the Kyuubi gains complete control, I will not hesitate to end both their lives."

Jiraiya looked right as the scraping sound reverberated through the room again. For the past few minutes he hadn't moved and his eyes were finally adjusting enough to see the slight movements in the corner of his eyes. Yet it was the chains that helped him the most as he could track the demon by the sound.

"How do you like my prison, human?" A guttural voice hissed, "Beautiful right?"

"Very homey." He answered sarcastically.

Soft laughing escalated until it filled the darkness and Jiraiya could just see the chained figure pacing the back of the cell. "Oh, it is. Dark, dank and smelling of piss and vomit, this is what you humans condemned me to. _This!_" It swept a hand around the cell, chains rattling with the movement, "This is my prison within the boy you placed me in for all eternity. Oh, but I promise you it will not stay this way," it laughed, "no, I refuse this."

"You don't have a choice." Jiraiya said, drawing a kunai from his back pocket. "The blood pact is to keep you imprisoned for all eternity within that boy, you won't escape."

Red eyes mockingly glared at him as the Kyuubi moved closer, chains dragging after it. "You're right, it is to keep me imprisoned to this body, but nothing was ever said that I couldn't gain control."

"I won't allow that."

"Really?" The demon laughed again, its head tilting to the left, "Have you failed to notice who is in control now? Your little chakra tricks won't work here, human, this is my domain and even the boy you're all so fond of is cowering at the back of his mind. He has given his body over to me and I will use it however I wish."

"You will give Naruto back to us."

"And what reason have you given me to allow that?" It asked, "I'm certain reversing the damn pact isn't what you're offering."

"You can either continue to reside within Naruto or die now."

"Let's see you try, little human." The demon purred, close enough now for Jiraiya to reach out and touch. "Come on, try and kill me." The Sanin couldn't see more than those red eyes laughing at him, but he could make out the spiky hair and long incisors that adorned the demon's mouth.

Dropping lower, Jiraiya reversed his hold on the kunai and aimed right for the Kyuubi's heart. A long nailed hand gripped his wrist and tightened until Jiraiya dropped his weapon, his arm twisting to keep his wrist from breaking. "Bastard." He growled through the pain as that hand continued to tighten.

"No," the Kyuubi whispered into his ear, "demon." Using it's other hand, it dug those nails into Jiraiya's side and twisted, watching with amusement as the older man flinched but did nothing more.

Searching, Jiraiya looked for the demon's weakness and caught through his pain the swirling patterns surrounding the Kyuubi's navel. He hadn't noticed until now that the demon wore no clothing and thus exposing the patterns on his stomach. _Someone has tampered with it…made it so the vessel's chakra became blocked. But it let the Kyuubi's chakra flow through those veins instead. _Reaching out, Jiraiya focused through his own pain and placed his hand flat on the Kyuubi's stomach, forcing his own chakra into the vessel's body. Trying to fix the block, he heard the Kyuubi scream in pain and suddenly he was dropped to the floor as he lost contact with the seal.

"What have you done?" The demon raged, falling to its knees and gripping its head.

Slowly standing, Jiraiya held his injured side gingerly and watched as the demon shook and convulsed, screams resonating off the walls. "Just changed a few things." He panted, readying another kunai as murderous red eyes glared at him through the darkness.

Growling, the Kyuubi sprinted towards the white haired man only to have the chains slack suddenly disappear and pull it back towards the middle of the floor, until the demon laid flat on his back without room to move. Screaming again, another convulsion caused the demon to stop struggling and lay still as he panted heavily. "I'll kill you, little human. I promise it."

Jiraiya watched as those eyes flicked back and forth between blue and red, another voice breaking through the Kyuubi's guttural screams as convulsion after convulsion rendered the demon helpless. Finally, everything was silenced and Jiraiya watched as the lights flickered on and flooded the room with radiance. He let his shoulders sag and finally looked upon the demon's body, only to be met with the small body of a young child.

Eyes widening, he looked at the emaciated body of the blonde haired child covered in sweat and scratches that he was certain he hadn't placed there. Breathing heavily, the boy didn't move as the seal on his stomach finally solidified and then disappeared, the ink sinking into his tanned skin. "What?" He whispered, approaching the chained child.

"That's Naruto." Sandaime said from the doorway, eyes full of sadness.

"What?" Jiraiya whispered, ignoring his own injuries as he approached the prone figure. "But he's so little to have been controlling the Kyuubi."

"He's thirteen, though we believe the years alone has malnourished his body past the point of him ever gaining the height he should. He'll probably always been extremely thin and short, but there's power within him."

Kakashi appeared at Jiraiya's side, "Let's get you to the hospital." He said, slipping an arm beneath the older man's shoulders.

"Kakashi-san, you certainly have gotten taller." Jiraiya laughed.

Smiling with his one eye, Kakashi waved at the others and then disappeared out the door with the white haired Sanin.

Iruka knelt beside Naruto and swept back his blonde bangs. "Come on Kitsune," he whispered, "wake up for me."

Slowly blue eyes fluttered open and Naruto let out a low whine of pain. "Hurts."

"I know, we'll see about finding someone to stop it from hurting."

"Food, Iruka nii-san?" He murmured, eyes closing again.

Iruka looked at Sarutobi, startled. He hadn't been called that since Naruto last had that nightmare and couldn't keep the smile off his face as the Hokage nodded.

Sasuke watched from the doorway as Iruka tended to the blonde fox. Eyes narrowing, he turned on his heel and stormed out, uncertain of what he thought. It was obvious that Naruto could be stronger than him, if he wasn't already, and that was unacceptable. _He_ was to be the strongest ninja, not some feral child he found, and he wouldn't allow it either. Yet at the same time these emotions surfaced, relief blossomed as well for he hadn't lost his only friend to some demon. He would be the strongest, but he refused to lose his friend as well, it didn't matter that Naruto rarely understood him or anyone else. They were friends, even if the fox didn't understand that.

Sarutobi watched as Sasuke stormed away, anger radiating off the young man. "Watch him, Umino-san, he's unbalanced."

Iruka nodded, "But he's more balanced than he was before we found Naruto."

Turning his attention back to the blonde and knelt beside him and checked the boy's vitals, eyes widening with surprise. "There's another chakra in his system now, he has his own chakra…"

"You mean it hadn't combined with the Kyuubi's like we thought?"

"No, I don't believe so, though we'll need a Hyuuga to verify it, but the Kyuubi's is no longer the dominant one." Standing, he nodded to Iruka and said, "Get him some food and I'll send someone down here to look at his wounds, but I think we have our fox back." Giving the brunette ninja a smile, he walked out and left the two of them alone.

Smiling, Iruka stood to follow and swore to himself that he would do everything in his power to not let this happen again. "I'll go get you some food, Kitsune."

"Nii-san?" The soft voice asked, "Where is Sasuke?"

"I'll see if I can find him, okay?"

Whimpering again, Naruto tried to curl around himself as much as the chains would allow and hold fast to his power over the Kyuubi once again. He didn't like where the demon had shoved him when he had gained control and he would do whatever possible to keep that from happening again. Though he didn't remember much, he remembered sensing someone pulling him from his cage and giving him the chance to fight the demon again.

He growled lowly as the Kyuubi raged in his dark cage and focused on staying alert until Iruka came back. He couldn't allow the demon to escape again; he had a feeling that if it happened again so soon after the last one he wouldn't be able to gain control ever again. "Mine." He growled to the demon, glaring at the wall. "Mine."

Dhampir  
Page 8  
03/22/07

Yeah, I know, I took forever to write this, but so is the life of a writer. I mentioned I had no idea where I was going with this when I first began and so it does take me longer to write them. Thanks for everyone who has been there through these chapters…only thirteen…man, I'm a slow writer.

Anyway, for everyone who's been waiting for Jiraiya to show up, he's now here! All righty…another character for me to keep in…

1: It means guardian.

Hope everyone enjoyed and onto reviews!

**Itallia**: Haha! Someone caught that I made it Kakashi instead of Kakakashi. Yeah, it means something, but not that he'll suddenly be speaking great and acting human, just that he's learning things better. Also, I didn't want him tasting everyone's blood, just that he was ready to kill some people kind of blood lust. A lust to see blood spilled, but it seemed right to have him taste Iruka's blood as he is a demon…

**Gonrie:** Yeah, I know, it's hard not to make this SasuNaru at points, but I'm going to stick towards my decision and keep it non-Yaoi for those two. But there'll be cute little times with those two, just no love or kissing and such.

**Laegdin:** Yeah…someone mentioned that…I saw it once and because I'm leaching off of someone else's wireless connection, I don't always get a chance to look it up. But yeah, I thought it didn't sound right, I just never looked it up again. I hope I spelled everyone's names right this time. Also about Neji, he'll be coming back in, probably in the next chapter, along with Hashi, so most likely, he has told him. Hehe.

**Pancake Mix:** He remembers pieces, but no, not everything and probably never will.

**Shikamaru the nerd:** Yes, we'll be seeing that in a later chapter with Kakashi, but right now he's just too weak. I guess since he's alive that answers your question.

**FluffyHieiKuronue'smate92:** That is really hard to type. But yeah, not yaoi because everything I have read about feral children says that they never really bonded with people to that point. Maybe one or two cases where that has happened, but not usually. And so I'm going to have that with Naruto, he'll never feel like he belongs to one species or the other.

**Lokisieena:** Yes, I know the legend (read most of them ) but I was just using it as a reference for where the children would find their prize. Like a picture showing Hati and Skoll chasing the moon and sun, not in reality. But I do love that legend.

**Jetede:** Yes, I found those afterwards, but thank you anyway. Tell me if I messed up anywhere again in this chapter.

**Umikit:** Yes, it's possible for feral children to fall in love, it's possible for anyone to fall in love, but statistics show that in case studies of feral children, they usually do not show that kind of relationship towards a person. Most find some way back to the wild or die early because they cannot survive around a human environment long. Those who have been 'civilized' again were usually found at a young age of two or three or only spent a year or less in the wild. Thus able to be cultivated back into society, but the studies say that they continue to hold some traits of whatever animals raised them.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** This is based loosely upond Jane Lindskold's series _Through Wolf's Eyes._ Ya'll should go out and read her series, very good!

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Fourteen_

Sasuke glared as the blonde idiot returned to normal, inquisitive blue eyes blinking up at him as the fox child held up one of Kakashi's books. "What is?"

"You're too young." He muttered, snatching the book away before the blonde could look at the pictures inside.

"No! Mine." He growled, back legs tensing before he sprung towards the stoic ninja. Sasuke quickly performed a substitution jutsu and Naruto found his arms full with pillows as Sasuke stood smirking on the steps. "Sasuke!" He whined, leaping over the back of the couch and bounding towards his friend. Sasuke quickly stepped out of his way and the blonde shot passed him, nails scrapping up the wooden stairs to turn around, blue eyes narrowing at the challenge. "Teme."

Sasuke smirked and began walking away, Kakashi's book rolled up in his hand. "Dobe." The word barely escaped his mouth before Naruto came barreling down the stairs, his speed increasing to where Sasuke almost had no time to dodge him. Whirling around, he watched as Naruto vaulted off the wall and charged him again. He waited again, watching Naruto's movements, but this time retaliated as the blonde slid past him. He watched as the blonde flipped out of control from a kick to the stomach and land on his side, a whimper escaping his throat.

Moments later, a blubbering wail escaped the blonde's throat and Sasuke could only watch as the blonde sat on his haunches and cried, "Uuuah! Uuee...Ueee..." Tears falling from cerulean eyes, Sasuke stared flabbergasted as Kitsune continued to cry.

"What is going on in here?" Iruka asked, storming in from the kitchen. He quickly took in the scene before him and rounded on Sasuke. "Mind telling me why Kitsune is laying in pain over there?"

"He wouldn't leave me alone." He shrugged, glaring at the blonde.

"That's no reason to use your skills against him." Iruka scolded.

"It is if I want to." Sasuke spat before pushing past the older man and storming up the stairs. _He's not my father and he's certainly not family. They are trespassers in house and it should be I demanding answers of them, not the other way around. How dare he question what I do in my own house!_ Slamming the door shut, Sasuke collapsed on his bed and glared at the ceiling. He didn't want anyone here and if he had to have someone, why did it have to be those three? The worrywart, the lazy bum and the crazy fox child, he would've rather housed Lee and Gai before those three idiots.

A loud knocking came from his door before it opened and the blonde fox stuck his head inside. "Sasuke? Mad Kitsune?"

"Yes, now go away."

"Away?" He whispered, his face crestfallen as he heard the words leave the other's mouth.

"Hai, now go!" He growled, resisting the urge to throw a kunai at the boy. With a squeak, the door shut again and he could hear the blonde's footsteps retreating as he went back downstairs. Closing his eyes, Sasuke tried to relax and let his anger remain dormant again, he knew from experience that he often made mistakes when he became angry and it was best to harness it than let it consume him.

Breathing deeply, Sasuke focused on clearing his mind and releasing his anger all while blocking out the sounds of the house. Finding solace used to be so easy and now—

"Sasuke, have you seen my Paradise?" Kakashi asked, his one visible eye not smiling happily at him for once.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, glaring at the man. Did no one understand privacy? Had these idiots been raised without manners? Sure he lost his family when he was a child, but he still knew some fucking manners! "Get out." He muttered dangerously, glaring at the pouting ninja.

Kakashi quirked his eyebrow, "What has you so sour?" Taking in the raven's appearance, he could see the tense shoulders, the set jaw and the steely eyes but the orange book in his hand seemed out of place for the teenager's normally dark clothes. _Wait…orange book?_ Kakashi focused once more on Sasuke's hand and as he recognized the well used cover, he quickly dashed towards the teen and grabbed the book out of his hands. "I never would've thought you'd take my Paradise, Sasuke." He chided, looking forlornly at the bent and creased pages. "And you've ruined it too…it's no longer is mint condition."

"I told you to get out." Sasuke repeated again, his glare darkening and verging on his patented glare.

"And I asked you—nicely—if you had my book or not. And for damaging it, you'll have to buy me a new one as well as give me six hundred pushups."

"You're not my parent, so do not presume to order me around in my own house." He snapped, pushing himself off the bed and looking up at the silver haired nin.

"But I am your guardian and sensei, Sasuke, and I will order you as such." Kakashi said, his eye serious as he stared down at the young shinobi. "If I order you into battle, you will do as I say and if I order you to give me six hundred pushups, as your sensei, you will do as I say. Is that understood? Or would you rather remain a genin all your life?"

Sasuke glared and waited for Kakashi to crumble beneath it, but he didn't budge and instead returned the glare with one of his own. "You can't do that." He finally spat.

"I can and will. _I_ have to enter you into the Chuunin exam and without my consent, you will never be entered. You showed a remarkable amount of ability during our trip to the Hidden Village of Water and I'd hate to see it go to waste, but if you can't follow orders—no matter what they might be—then you have no reason to remain a shinobi.

"We are men of war and stealth, we are assassins and we follow orders from the Hokage no matter what they might be. If we are told to attack the surrounding villages, we will; if we are told to massacre a city, we will; if we are told to kill our comrades because he or she has become a traitor, _we will_. Do you understand, Uchiha Sasuke? This is what a ninja does and if I want it to be so, you will never become anything more than a genin, no matter how strong you become."

Sasuke finally looked away, hands clenched into fists at his side as he bit back a retort. He knew Kakashi was right, shinobi were nothing more than tools for the Hokage to use as he see fits…but still hearing it from his sensei's lips was different. Just as he had always been told he would one day kill a human, maybe even a friend, it was different when he learned firsthand what that truly meant. "Fine." He finally whispered, stalking past the silver haired ninja.

Kakashi sighed, _he never should've been left alone after the massacre…but no one wanted a child related to a murderer nor did Sasuke want to be adopted. This town may respect and honor him, but they fear him even more… _Following his charge out of the room, he slipped his book into his back pocket and watched silently as Sasuke began the pushups silently. He hadn't been serious at first until Sasuke's sudden lack of respect and refusal to do the punishment appeared. Being a shinobi meant doing some things one didn't like, be it catching a lost cat to the assassination of an innocent that was paid. If the Hokage approved the request and gave it to a ninja, that ninja was expected to either die or succeed no matter what it may be. That's the life of the shinobi.

Iruka appeared a little later and stopped beside the silver jounin. "Aren't you being a bit hard on him, Kakashi-san?"

"No."

"But he's only thirteen and he looks like he'll pass out soon from exhaustion."

"Iruka," he said lowly, turning to face the teacher, "you can't coddle him for the rest of his life. He is a soldier now, _my_ soldier, and if I see fit to punish him for insubordination for refusing an order, then I will."

He huffed, eyes sparking angrily, "Just because that's how you were trained does not mean that is the correct way to train."

"Yondaime-sensei never trained me this way."

"I was talking about your father." He muttered before looking back at Sasuke, his eyes softening as he watched the sweating boy continue his pushups. "Sasuke doesn't need any more resentment in his life, Kakashi-san, what he needs is someone to become his father—his family—and treat him with respect and dignity. That's what he's searching for in the long run."

"Jiraiya left yesterday." Kakashi said, smoothly changing the unpleasant subject. He didn't like thinking of the years he spent with his father and he didn't like answering those questions either.

"Why?"

"Hokage-sama had asked him to become Hokage but he almost ran away from the proposition. He said if he took on the Hokage title he would no longer have the time or freedom to continue his studying he uses in his books. Thank the gods, if he had stopped writing the world would be filled with so many frustrated men." He added seriously, his hands moving back to caress the orange book lovingly.

Iruka ignored the urge to hit the lazy jounin, though just, and prodded, "That doesn't explain why Jiraiya-san left."

"Apparently Hokage-sama's other choice is his third student, Tsunade, so Jiraiya-sama left in search of her. Hokage-sama says she'll make a wonderful Hokage whenever she gets here."

"I thought he would step down eventually, especially after the Kyuubi's attack, but I never thought it would be this soon…"

"One becomes Hokage because he or she is recognized as the strongest ninja of the Leaf, as I'm sure you know." He quirked an eyebrow as Iruka nodded. "We've been living in relatively peaceful times since the Kyuubi attack thirteen years ago and have now turned more towards diplomacy than bloodshed."

"I don't see anything wrong with that." Iruka said flatly.

"I never said there was." He said, watching silently as Sasuke began on his last set of pushups. "But there's no doubt we are unprepared for war if it ever came. Most of our jounin are either training genin or on diplomacy missions for other countries to hold ties with them. We still have dangerous missions and skirmishes with missing nin, but it isn't like true war and our future generations don't understand the meaning of killing someone. Even we have become weaker in this time of peace and Hokage-sama is no different."

"His duties don't allow him time to train anymore, do they?"

"No and because of that, he's stepping down. When he called all the present jounins to his office, we were expecting something like this. He feels inadequate to protect the village and has announced his successor to be his old student Tsunade-san."

"What will he do now?"

"He's stepping down to head of the council and the new Hokage's advisor when she needs one." "At least now we'll have someone on the council that doesn't want Naruto dead, that's something we really need."

"Hmm." Kakashi nodded, eyes trained on the sweating genin struggling to finish his punishment. "As long as the council is in disagreement, it's the Hokage's decision, so all we can do is hope Tsunade-san agrees with the Sandaime about keeping Naruto alive."

"We'll convince her somehow, we have to." He whispered, looking down at his hands. "Naruto is somewhere inside of Kitsune, I know it, and someday we'll get him back. We have to."

Sighing, Kakashi turned his grey eyes to the teacher, "He's the Kyuubi's vessel, Iruka-san, and for most of his life has been living like a fox, Naruto no longer exists. Kitsune is all that's left of the boy you once knew."

"That's not true! He recognizes me and he remembers what he used to call me, Naruto is still there." He snapped, eyes reflecting his hurt while he scowled at the jounin. Clenching his fists, he quickly turned away and disappeared inside the house to find the wayward child they spoke of.

Sighing, Kakashi shook his head and turned back to Sasuke only to find the young man standing before him haggardly. "I assume you've finished?"

"Hn." He responded, somehow finding the energy to glare at him. "I'll be in the shower." He almost growled out as he followed Iruka's footsteps inside and leaving the silver haired man standing in the field alone.

"We made two mistakes it seems, sending Naruto away and leaving Sasuke alone…"

Iruka searched the house, starting with Kitsune's room and working his way down, but he still couldn't locate the blonde fox. His face full of worry, he began searching the lower levels, down to the basement and to the surrounding areas outside. But after an hour of searching and calling, he had yet to see even a hair of the child's head. Darting back inside, he called for Kakashi and Sasuke and waiting for the two to descend to the living room.

Hair still slightly damp, Sasuke looked at the chuunin with distain and waited silently as Kakashi just crossed his arms and leaned against the stair pillar. "Have either of you seen Naruto within the last hour or so?" Iruka asked, dinner lying forgotten on the table.

"No." Sasuke answered and turned to go back upstairs but Kakashi put a hand in front of his way.

"I haven't either."

"I've searched the entire house and the yard, but I can't find him anywhere. I can't sense him either." He said, his voice dropping with the last sentence. "What would make him disappear? Who was the last to speak to him?"

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, "Me, I think."

"What did you say?" Kakashi asked, moving towards his charge.

"He asked if I was mad at him and I told him to go away."

"Go where, Sasuke?"

"I don't know. I just told him to go, no where specific."

"Shit." Iruka whispered, running a hand through his hair. "He could be outside of Konoha by now if he's serious, Kakashi."

"I'll contact the Hokage, you two begin looking for him." Kakashi said, pulling his haiete up to reveal both eyes.

"He's most likely just enjoying his Hunt, why worry? He'll return to where his food source is once he gets hungry enough." Sasuke groused, annoyed at his once peaceful life becoming hectic and unpredictable. Between the damned dobe jumping out a window, running into the forest, putting him in a coma—though indirectly—and then killing a handful of ninjas, he sometimes felt it would be better if the dobe was just killed. And yet he couldn't deny the bond he felt with the wild fox-child or how mundane his life would become once the three living in his home left.

"Most of the village wants him dead, Sasuke, and the ninjas that want to avenge their fallen comrades will attack and kill him if we don't find him first." Kakashi explained, "Now, I have to report to Hokage-sama and gather up a few trustworthy ninjas while you two start looking for him." Looking at the two, he quickly made a few hand seals and then disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Iruka took a moment to collect himself and then looked at Sasuke. "I want you to get Sakura and Neji, since they already know about Naruto, and start searching the forest around here. I'll see who I can gather up and start a search outside the village, meet back here in three hours, got it?"

"Ha" He muttered, grabbing his kunai holster from beside the door and disappearing out the door. He looked over his shoulder to see Iruka take to the rooftops, covering them at a hurried speed towards the inner city. Strapping his holster to his leg, he took out his hietai from a side pocket and tied it around his forehead while taking the quickest route to Neji's house. The Hyuuga's house was closer than Sakura's and the girl was less likely to hang on him if there were two people glaring at her. Maybe.

Rapping on the door, he waited impatiently as one of the lesser clan members answered the door. The Hyuuga looked Sasuke up and down before taking in the Uchiha's standard trait of black eyes and the large resemblance to Uchiha Itachi. Eyes widening, he quickly invited the younger man in and brought him to Hyuuga Hiashi, the clan head. Slightly bowing his head, Sasuke waited for the older man to recognize him as the Uchiha clan head despite only being thirteen.

After a moment's hesitance, Hiashi also bowed his head, gesturing for the genin to sit down. "What brings you here, Sasuke-kun?"

"I would like to speak with your nephew Neji."

"May I inquire as to why?" The older man asked slowly, eyes focused on Sasuke's emotionless face.

"Iruka-san wishes to speak with him upon something personal." He answered, still not moving from his position near the door. If he accepted the man's invitation to tea, he would be sitting here for hours while the Hyuuga tried to figure out just why Sasuke was there to see Neji when he never had visited before. "I was also hoping to spar against him as I no longer have a strong member on my team." He added, watching as the man's hands stilled.

Yuki Hikari hadn't been the best nor the worst, but she wasn't the smartest ninja and in the end, died from interfering between the youth Haku and Sasuke. Apparently, despite Haku not aiming for anything vital, when Hikari foolishly ripped two of the sanbin needles out she nicked a major artery and before anyone knew what was happening, she was dead. She turned out to be quite strong, though never strong enough to beat Sasuke, but certainly a better sparing partner than Sakura made out to be. Her forte was in genjutsus and tactics, not strength and speed, and so she was never any kind of challenge to Sasuke at all.

"Neji is training at the moment, but he should be in the dojo with Hinata and Hanabi. He's willing to help them learn how to use our bloodlimit to its fullest capacity, those two are highly lacking though Hinata is much farther behind than Hanabi is."

"Hn." He muttered, nodding slightly before taking his leave. Despite Hiashi being the head of the Hyuuga clan, there was no mistaking he had ruined his oldest daughter. Even he could see without his Sharingan that Hinata had a lot of hidden talent that had been snubbed by her father, that talent mainly belonging to the medicinal side, if she were but allowed the chance she would become a strong medic. But that kind of lowly stature wouldn't tolerated for the heir of the dominant clan, she would be shamed beyond death and most likely forgotten as time went on, her name becoming taboo to use or speak. He knew because the same was for his own clan, had he wanted to be anything other than an elite member of the Uchiha police force, he would've been completely forgotten and most likely disinherited.

Walking down the hallway, he sought out Neji's power and opened the door to the dojo while Hinata and Hanabi sparred off. The two immediately stopped at the sudden intrusion and turned to look at the young Uchiha entering the room with a cool collectiveness only he and Neji seemed to carry. Hinata quickly bowed her head in greeting but Hanabi and Neji just stared. "Hyuuga"

"Uchiha." Neji responded back, slowly nearing him. "What brings you here?"

"Kitsune disappeared."

Nodding, Neji turned to the other two Hyuuga's and sighed, "Training's over. Hinata-san, you've improved and so have you, Hanabi-san. Practice longer if you wish, but the Uchiha and I have business." He then turned and followed Sasuke out, quickly following as the other boy rushed out before Hiashi could question them any more. "Have you told Hiashi?" He asked, annoyed Sasuke wasn't giving him any other information.

"Hai. Though about what, no. Kitsune disappeared and Iruka-san has asked me to collect both you and Sakura to search the forest for him. He shouldn't be too hard to find now that he has his own chakra again, he can't mask it yet, but he's not anywhere nearby or we would've sensed him and not needed any help."

"Why Sakura?"

"She knows about the dobe as well and Iruka-san wants as many people as he can trust get to help." He shrugged, landing beside her door and quickly knocking, hands already shoved in his pockets when the door opened.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura smiled brightly, quickly fixing her hair. "What brings you here?"

"Kitsune disappeared and Iruka-sensei ordered us to help."

"Sasuke-kun? Where?" Ino's voice filtered through the open door before she appeared beside Sakura. "Why are you here?"

"To see me, of course!" Sakura snapped, pushing the blonde away.

"Nuh-uh, he knew I was here and came to see me, but he can't see me past your big forehead."

"Ino!"

Sighing, Neji resisted the urge to rub his forehead and stepped, "Both of you move it. We need to find Kitsune before someone else does, so get ready and shut up."

"You're not needed Ino, so just go home, okay?" Sakura snapped, grabbing his holster from beside the door as Ino followed her out.

"If its time with Sasuke-kun, I'm needed." She grinned, closing the door and stretching.

"Let's go." Sasuke said, feeling the headache beginning to start. "Iruka said to check the forest surrounding my house, but _no one_ goes in my house. Understood?"

"Hai!" The two girls grinned, squealing childishly as they followed the two stoic ninjas to the Uchiha grounds. Surveying the land, Sasuke pointed to the right, "I'll take that sector, Neji you take the other half."

Nodding, Neji pulled Ino with him and left the other two genins to tackle that half. "Keep your mind focused, there are large snakes that roam this area."

Pouting at being taken away from Sasuke, but brightening up at the idea of spending time with the next hottest ninja genius, only second to Sasuke, she stuck close to Neji as they entered the forest and said, "What is this Kitsune thing anyway? Sasuke-kun's pet fox?"

Sasuke looked at Sakura and then at the forest, regretting his decision to bring Sakura along. Beyond the forest laid the ruins of his clan, something only Kitsune had seen and he'd rather no one else saw it. Looking at Sakura, he entered the forest and told her to start at the border while he checked the other border and worked forward. It was more dangerous but at least it kept her away from his past. The last thing he ever wanted was someone's pity, especially from Sakura because then she would try to mother him. He got enough of that from Iruka.

Landing silently on the ground, Iruka took a breath and knocked on the door hesitantly, uncertain of what he was going to say. He knew that if he outright told them he was looking for the demon fox vessel that no one would help him unless they wanted him dead and if Neji's uncle found out, he was going to be in big trouble. But he wasn't going to let anyone hurt Naruto, he'd die first. He had lost him once before and that was hard enough knowing he wasn't able to protect the blonde and that he had turned down the chance to leave with Naruto believing that in a few years the rambunctious blonde would return to Konoha. He wasn't going to lose him again, even if Naruto never did return to normal…

"Umino-san, what a surprise!" Inuzuka grinned, his son appearing by his side with Akamaru tucked under one arm. "I haven't seen you since Kiba's graduation…I hope he hasn't gotten in any trouble, has he?"

"Oh, no Inuzuka-sama, none at all. I had stopped by because I'm in need of finding something and I was hoping that Kiba-kun could help me track it with Akamaru, if he were available…"

"Hmm…" The man scratched his chin, looking down at his son who was looking back hopefully. Anything was worth getting out of chores, right? "I guess it would be good practice for both of them and Akamaru could use the training, so okay! He's yours for the duration, Umino-san."

Bowing his head, Iruka smiled as Kiba cheered and grabbed his things, "Thank you Inuzuka-sama."

"What are we tracking, Iruka-sensei?" Kiba asked as his father shut the door behind them. Grinning, he put Akamaru in his hood and followed his ex-sensei through the busy streets towards the outskirts of town.

It wasn't until they were outside the gates that Iruka spoke, his voice strained and quavering. "A fox, Kiba-kun, a blonde fox."

"A…fox?" The young Inuzuka asked, his face scrunching up in confusion. "But aren't they red?"

Iruka smiled, "Yes, Naruto is just a special case. Do you think Akamaru would be able to pick up his trail if he had something to track him by?"

"Of course! He's the best tracking dog out there, he'll find your fox by night fall, I promise it!" Kiba grinned, turning his head to look at his partner, "Right, Akamaru?" The young dog yipped in agreement and Iruka smiled at them as he slowed at the village gate.

"State your business." One of the guards said, eyes sweeping over the two ninjas before recognizing Iruka. "Umino-san, you've been approved to leave the village by Hokage-sama. Is the little one with you?"

"Little one!" Kiba shouted, but bit back his reply when Iruka motioned for him to be quiet.

"Yes, he's with me. We should be back before nightfall, but if you don't see us, please inform Hatake-san where we had gone."

"Hai!"

Nodding, Iruka led the genin out of the town and began walking slowly down the dirt path leading away from the village. "Have you ever left the village, Kiba-kun?"

"Un," he nodded, "Twice with my father on business but only once with my team and that was just for the day."

"We shouldn't be going far, but I thought it best to let Akamaru get used to the smells around him before I give you something to track Naruto by."

"It'll probably take him a couple minutes to distinguish the different smells, but do you have something that smells like your pet fox?"

Smiling, Iruka pulled out a piece of Naruto's clothing he had cut before leaving the Uchiha complex and handed it over to the brunette. "Is this sufficient?"

Holding the course fabric out for Akamaru to sniff, he frowned and motioned Iruka over to where he was standing. Grabbing the pale dog by the scruff, he picked him up out of his jacket hood and held him out to Iruka. "There's two scents on the cloth, one is yours and one is your fox's, so he needs to smell you to distinguish the scents." He explained, handing Akamaru to Iruka who held the little dog awkwardly in his arms. He watched as he smelled his arms and vest before jumping onto the ground and sniffing at the ground. Looking up at Kiba, Akamaru barked and shook his head before traveling more towards the side of the woods.

"Akamaru says he can't smell anything like Naruto around here, but if it's a fox then he'll probably head into the woods." He jerked his finger towards the forest and then shrugged, "But you know your little pet better than I do."

"No, he's feral, if anything he'll head into the forest." Iruka said, mentally adding up his reserves of kunai, shirukin, medic supplies and scrolls for more powerful attacks before following the little dog into the woods.

Grinning, Kiba followed him in, listening to his dog zigzag between the trees and roughage of the forest floor and following his scent. Though his senses weren't as trained as Akamaru's, he could still smell and see better than the average person. "Iruka-sensei, why do you care so much about a feral fox? Isn't it better to let them alone anyway?"

"You'll understand when you find him." He said, not wanting to explain that Naruto was a human. He knew eventually Kiba would distinguish the connection between the blonde acting like a fox with the demon attack, but he wanted to find Naruto before that happened.

The high pitched scream brought Sasuke to a halting stop as he rounded around and glared at Sakura screaming and tripping away from the large spider crawling towards her. Rolling his eyes, he didn't even aim as he threw four kunai at the insect, easily pinning it to a nearby tree. "Will you move it?" He growled, annoyed that they had spent almost three hours searching the forest and still had yet to find anything. His search of the charred remains of his clan brought up nothing but painful and violent memories. He had even activated his Sharingan to help track even the slightest movement but there was still no sign of the dobe.

Squashing the slight feeling of worry pooling in his stomach, he glared at his teammate as she got up and wiped the dirt off her clothes. "Keep moving." He snapped, turning back towards the direction his house lie in. He already knew he'd be feeding the three genins and was annoyed at having even more people see his house even though Sakura and Neji had already been inside. He already knew Ino would want a tour and probably try to break into his room while Sakura fought with her and bickered about whose property he was. At least Neji would sit quietly with him…

There was nothing more they could do until Kakashi or Iruka reported their finds and he was tired of being in damp, muddy clothes. He could feel the grime on his face and the sweat that poured down his back from dealing with various creatures that crawled around the surrounding forest, he just hoped that Neji and Ino had fared as well—if not better than—themselves. Maybe they had found the idiot and were just waiting for them to return.

"Come on." He growled as Sakura continued to dally around, shuffling away from anything that moved, a kunai drawn out.

Biting her lip, she nodded and gathered her courage to follow her crush. Following behind him, they reached the field in a few minutes and she could only watch as Sasuke looked around the field before closing his eyes and trying to sense any chakra signature that would belong to the blonde. Yet there was still nothing.

Sasuke looked to his right slightly as Neji and Ino appeared, grim expressions on both of their faces. "Nothing?"

"No." Neji answered, "We ran into a snake though, we were running away from that for almost a half hour."

"It was awesome!" Ino grinned, joining Sakura beside Sasuke. "Neji has some neat talents, Sakura, and he chased that snake as much as it chased us."

"You can clean up inside, but don't track dirt through my house." Sasuke said before trekking inside, not even pausing to see if the other would follow or not. Of course, Sakura and Ino would never pass up the chance to see inside Sasuke's house and possibly see where they might one day live if they could just get the Uchiha's attention long enough.

Neji sighed; he wouldn't leave Sasuke to deal with those two no matter how much he disliked the bastard. He knew first hand how possessive girls could be.

It wasn't until almost sunset that Akamaru picked up a faint trail, his high pitched yip alerting his followers. Kiba perked up and quickly bounded over a fallen log and a bit of brush before stooping beside Akamaru and breathing deep. "Yup, that's it! We got a trail, Iruka-sensei."

"Can you figure out how old?" Iruka asked, landing beside the two.

"I'd guess about four hours old, but what doesn't make sense is he's going straight, no weaving or backtracking. Your fox knows exactly where he's going." Curiosity and confusion was evident in his voice as he looked up at the chuunin for answers, but Iruka remained tightlipped as he looked around the forest.

"Follow it." He whispered, waiting for the pair to begin again.

Eyes narrowing, Kiba hesitated to argue with the man, but he was higher ranking as well as his old teacher and so he fell under the man's command…but… "Is this going to endanger Akamaru, Iruka-san?"

Iruka turned in surprise, _he didn't say sensei_, "No, it shouldn't, but I can't guarantee it. There are a lot of people after Naruto, Kiba-kun, and if I don't get to him first, they might kill him. Please, I need to find him before someone else does."

"We'll follow the trail a little longer, but I won't put Akamaru in danger." He said, turning back to his dog. "Are you okay, Akamaru? Do you need to rest?"

Iruka watched as the dog actually looked indignant at the remark. Ears flattening, it barked and then turned around, nose to the ground, and began following the trail once more. "I won't put you in danger, Kiba-kun, I promise you." He said as he passed the boy to follow his dog.

"Don't worry about me." Kiba huffed, running to catch up to his dog, but he kept one hand on his holster and his senses open for danger despite Iruka's words. His own mind was abuzz with what he had gathered so far and he began to wonder if it were possible Iruka was insane, but Akamaru had found the scent. Maybe he was leading Iruka towards someone who was placed under protection and he wanted to kill him…but Iruka was a teacher, he used to teach him! Surely he wouldn't try to go against the Hokage's orders, but he was acting so strange and they were out here alone. _What if he's going to kill me and Akamaru too?! What if he's having us track someone or something that he wants and then he's going to kill witnesses? What do I do now! We're out here miles away from Konoha and without backup…_

"Kiba!" Iruka yelled, grabbing the young genin by the arm and pulling him back from the path. "You have to watch where you're going, you almost hit a trip wire!" Iruka scolded, eyes darting around the forest to see if there was anyone watching him. Once he was certain nothing was happening, he carefully stepped through the throng of wires, ducking and hopping through them with ease as Kiba followed him—less gracefully. "We have to hurry, someone set that up recently."

Nodding, Kiba armed himself with kunai and called for Akamaru with a shrill whistle that Iruka barely picked up. Seconds later the yellow dog appeared beside his master, "Did you see anyone?" He asked, listening intently as the dog growled and yipped lowly. Frowning, he looked at Iruka, "Akamaru says there's four people up there, three of them are surrounding a cave while the fourth is inside and won't come out."

"Naruto." He whispered, "You two go back, now, find Hatake-san and show him back as fast as you can." He ordered, snapping, "Now!" when they didn't move.

"I thought you said it was a fox!" Kiba retorted.

"I'll explain later, just find Hatake-san." Iruka said before disappearing into the forest and arriving at the small clearing, kunai in hand as he took in the three ninjas before him. "Get away from the cave, now!"

Turning, the three ninjas backed away out of reflex and left a space large enough for Iruka to slide into so he was now between them and Naruto. "Iruka-nii?" A voice asked, timid and small from somewhere inside the cave.

"Hai, Kitsune, it's Iruka." He said, refusing to take his eyes off the ninjas. "What's your business here?" He demanded of them.

"Hokage-sama ordered us to kill that monster." One answered.

"Really, for what reasons?" Iruka asked, shirukin in hand. His eyes swept over the three, taking in their chuunin vests and leaf insignias. He didn't recognize for the first two, their brown eyes and short hair cuts causing the two to look like twins, but the silver haired man caught him by surprise. "Mizuki? You're in on this too?"

"We've come to kill the monster, Iruka-san. Hokage-sama sent us to find him and kill him for all those he murdered."

"That wasn't Naruto! That was the Kyuubi and Naruto has it under control now. There's no reason to kill him and Hokage-sama would've told _me_ if that were the truth. He hasn't ordered his death yet."

"There is no reason for that child to live, it's a demon's spawn and should be sent back to hell from which it was born." One of the shinobi said, arming himself.

"Iruka-sensei, don't let us fight, just move away from the Kyuubi vessel and we won't harm you. As long as none of us speak of this again, we can be rid of that creature. So please, don't do anything stupid." Mizuki said, slowly slipping into an offensive stance.

"I won't let you do this." Iruka whispered, focusing chakra into his feet and propelling himself towards the three ninja's. His move took them by surprise and he was able to strike the closest one in the neck with a kunai, the man not moving fast enough away to avoid the attack, but the other two jumped away unscathed. But Iruka didn't slow down, sliding across the dirt and leaves, he jumped and pushed off a tree trunk. Hands slipping into his holster to draw out more weapons, he spun to dodge the shirukin coming towards him and slashed at the second ninja, only the edge cutting through his shirt.

A well placed fist had his jump short lived and Iruka fell to the ground, a powerful kick to his ribs following his movements. Coughing, Iruka quickly pushed away but he couldn't stop fast enough to avoid hitting the cave wall. Glaring, he picked himself up and armed himself once more, ignoring the whimpering coming from inside the cave. Throwing a handful of kunai, Iruka attacked the unknown chuunin first, the other lying dead on the ground from his jugular being cut open. Sliding close to the ground, Iruka swept his leg across the ground and kicked the other man off his feet. Two of his kunai had struck his chest and he quickly brought his fist into the man's stomach, causing him to cough and gasp for air.

A kunai pierced Iruka's shoulder, another following in quick succession to bury itself into his upper arm. Hissing with pain, Iruka jumped away and turned to face Mizuki. "You won't win, even if you kill me, you won't kill him. I won't let you."

"You don't have a choice, Iruka-sensei." Mizuki smiled, too calm for Iruka's liking, his eyes dancing with mirth as he advanced on the older chuunin. Reaching over his shoulder, Mizuki aimed the large four bladed weapon at Iruka, grinning widely as he threw it towards him.

Dodging the attack, Iruka ducked beneath the array of kunai whistling over his head. He reached for his own holster, but was thwarted by a well placed kunai sinking into his wrist. Turning, he gasped and tried to protect himself as the large weapon sunk into his side, slicing through his vest and opening his side. Gasping, he fell to his knees and tried to feebly get up as blood began to drip to the ground.

"Iruka?" Kitsune asked, creeping out of the cave, the smell of Iruka's blood permeated the air. He looked from the silver haired man to Iruka and whimpered, uncertain of what to do. Mizuki calmly picked up his weapon and turned towards the blonde fox, grinning as he aimed and threw.

"No!" Iruka yelled, intercepting their paths and yelling as the blade sunk into his back. Gasping, he fell to his knees and shakily reached behind to rip the weapon out. Looking up, he locked gazes with Kitsune's terrified irises. "Run away, Naruto, please."

Kicking Iruka in the back, Mizuki picked up his weapon once more and snorted. "I told you, nothing is going to stop me from killing him. Not even you." He turned to kill the blonde only to find he was no longer by the cave entrance. Neither could he be seen inside the cave, and Mizuki didn't even hear him move. "Shit, where is he?"

A low growling emitted from behind him and Mizuki spun around to be met with teeth and claws as Kitsune attacked him. Raising his arms to protect his face, Kitsune swiped his claws across the man's stomach and sunk his teeth into the man's arm. Spinning on his left foot, he used the chance to gather momentum to deliver a solid kick to Mizuki's side, sending the man flying across the small clearing. Slamming into a tree, the chuunin dropped his weapon as his back cracked against the sturdy wood.

Slowly picking himself up, he looked up at the child standing in the clearing, his eyes flickering between blue and red as his nails grew into claws and his whisker marks darkened. He growled, showing off his elongated canines and the pattern on his stomach swirled to life. "What the hell?" He whispered, slowly picking up the four bladed weapon again and positioning himself in a defensive stance. He watched as Kitsune dropped to all fours and rushed him, eyes focused solely on the silver haired man who attacked Iruka. Readying himself, he waited until the blonde leapt into the air to attack him to strike. Slicing his weapon through the air, he listened for it to connect and watched as the outer most blade pierced his stomach and cut a clean line through the glowing seal around his navel.

Screaming, Kitsune fell to the ground but refused to acknowledge the pain and jumped through the man's defenses, sinking his teeth into Mizuki's jugular. Biting down as hard as he could, he ignored the kunai and fists hitting him and hung on, eyes closing as he refused to let go. Even as blood filled his mouth and ran down his chin, he refused until Mizuki finally threw him off, thus killing himself as Kitsune tore out his jugular.

"Iruka! Kitsune." Another voice called out, Kakashi appearing as Naruto fell to the ground in a bloody mess. He looked around the bloodied ground and saw Iruka slowly standing. "Iruka…are you okay?"

"Yes, but check on Kitsune." He panted, holding his side painfully as Kiba rushed to his side to help him.

Kakashi knelt beside the blonde fox curled into the fetal position. "Kitsune, let me see what's wrong." He whispered, carefully touching the blonde's shoulder. He quickly drew away as teeth snapped at the contact, eyes flashing before Kitsune grabbed his head and screamed. The noise pierced the dark and suddenly all life left those hazy red eyes and Kitsune slumped on the ground, unconscious.

Kitsune let out a scream as pain ripped his body asunder, raw chakra pumped through his veins like liquid fire as it tried to correct the damage the Kyuubi was causing the small boy. Another burst of chakra swept through his body and he felt ribs crack and just as quickly as the pain came, the same chakra fixed it, desperately trying to keep the blonde vessel alive. In rage, the Kyuubi attacked its 'cage' again, vicious chakra bursting veins and breaking bones as Kitsune could do no more than cry in pain.

But pain was okay, because no matter how much agony he was in, it was something familiar and that was, in some twisted way, comforting to the blonde kit. The pain of hunger, of wounds, of cold nights and loneliness was all he knew before Sasuke found him the forest. His life had revolved around the Hunt and gathering whatever food to stay alive while avoiding fights with larger predators. Though he was a formidable foe, there were still creatures that were stronger and more deadly than he and he learned early on to avoid them.

Letting out a keening wail, Kitsune opened his eyes and fought against the bonds holding him to the bed. Twisting his body, he screamed his rage and pain as he pulled against the leather cuffs holding his wrists and ankles captive. He could feel the Other growing, its hatred consuming his mind as he lashed against it's cage once more, causing another blood curdling scream to slip between red lips. The Other, the Kyuubi, paced its cage, red eyes full of malice watching as its hosts body began to crumble beneath its power. Eyes narrowing, the Kyuubi smiled as it sent out another burst of pain all while reveling in the pain it was causing.

Screaming, Kitsune struggled as tears fell down his scarred face, blue eyes wide with fear and pain all while the chakra began to process again and again, the pain never ending and his mind crumbling.

Sarutobi shook his head, "What is Kyuubi up to?" He whispered as Naruto fell once more into a fitful sleep. They had sewed up the wound, but Kyuubi had taken over from there and healed the rest, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that something had changed with the seal ever since it had been cut while active.

"I had thought Jiraiya-sama had changed the seal so the Kyuubi couldn't gain control again." Kakashi said, his second eye revealed as he searched the boy's body. Yet he couldn't see exactly what the Kyuubi was doing though they could both sense the fox's chakra.

"He had, but Mizuki damaged the seal when he cut through it while it was activated and the Kyuubi is fighting against the weakened seal. Naruto's body immediately uses the demon's chakra to reverse the injuries the demon is causing in the first place."

"But why?"

"The seal was altered so that Naruto's chakra would be dominant, but his body relies upon the Kyuubi's, by forcing its chakra through his system, the Kyuubi will eventually regain control as its forcing Naruto's chakra to become subservient to its own. It would only be a matter of time before the Kyuubi 's chakra will completely destroy Naruto's own thus making his body live upon the demon's."

"And because the Kyuubi's chakra is immeasurable, it will eventually win."

"And Naruto will die."

Kakashi looked up, "Die? But how would that benefit the Kyuubi? Wouldn't it die along with Naruto?"

Sarutobi's face was grim as he continued to look at the blonde child. "As you know, if your chakra is completely drained, you will die, it is as much our life as it is our power and the same will happen if every chakra well within our bodies are destroyed. I think the demon is destroying those points in Naruto's body and slowly killing him, but because of the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto's body will continue to live. Naruto will die with the destruction of his chakra, but that will allow the Kyuubi to take over in his place.

"And there would be no bringing him back." He whispered, his hands tightening around the cane he carried.

Ah, me, this was a long chapter and a very long gap between reviews. And would you all like to know why? Because of this!

_"One becomes Hokage because he or she is recognized as the strongest ninja of the Leaf, as I'm sure you know." He quirked an eyebrow as Iruka nodded. "We've been living in relatively peaceful times since the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago and have now turned more towards diplomacy than bloodshed." _

_"I don't see anything wrong with that." Iruka said flatly._

_**"I never said there was." He said, watching silently as Sasuke began on his last set of pushups. "But there's no doubt we are unprepared for war if it ever came. Most of our jounin are either training genin or on diplomacy missions for other countries to hold ties with them. We still have dangerous missions and skirmishes with missing nin, but it isn't like true war and our future generations don't understand the meaning of killing someone. Even we have become weaker in this time of peace and Hokage-sama is no different."**_

That stupid paragraph right there caused me over a month's agony. Every way I wrote it sounded horrible and I couldn't stand it and so I finally said "Screw it!" and decided it worked well enough. I've had this chapter written for almost a full two months and I just couldn't stand that ONE paragraph. So…sorry.

Anyway! Reviews:

**Hyperthermophile** Jiraiya was originally aware of the Kyuubi-Naruto situation but as everyone thought he was dead, that kind of gets rid of the whole situation. As such, pretty much, no one could find him to inform him.

**HADmatter** Honestly, I don't know myself if they're going to kill Naruto, hehe.

**DreamTimeTails** I like "Kakakashi" too, I'm thinking about keeping it anyway just to annoy Kakashi.

**Neko Kate-chan:** Any information you have about the linguistics about feral children, I will gladly accept. I love other perspectives on this story and so give me whatever you go. (that sounded kind of dirty…sorry.)

**Cheza'flower'silver'wolf** That's a long name! Sorry for the long time, I'm trying, just got a lot on my plate at the moment. And I explained why up above too, don't worry about being shy, your review was fine.

**Utena-Puchiko-nyu** Hmmm…I don't know if Orichimaru will steal Sasuke away or not, though he'll be making an appearance in the next chapter or two. I finally brought other characters into the story! Finally…

**HughesHanajimaHilariaHypocr…:** Your name it too long for it to appear so that's the best I can do. And you're welcome for the long chapters, I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

**xREWIND** Yes, most feral children often die and this will probably follow it though I'm not certain how much. It depends how long the child is in the wild and when the child was lost is what decides their life expectancy. They say if they were lost at the age of two or younger and ferally raised, they are more likely to die by their teens, but there are cases where they live to be thirty. Though they are rare. But the children who are lost at an older age have a better chance of living as well as being reintroduced into society. Sorry to disappoint you by continuing the story though…

**Hink** I think I will keep romance out of it for the most part, I really can't think of who to pair them with, hehe. If anything, Naruto will NEVER be paired with anyone, it just won't work but Sasuke…I don't know.

**Mistress-Starfire** Wow, it's nice when people actually read what I write at the bottom of my chapters. But no, no yaoi, at least for the main characters. Kakashi and Iruka…maybe. Naruto will never be able to love in the full sense, he'll most likely be able to feel respect, honor and a dominance tie to people, but that's about it. He'll care but he'll never understand 'love'. And no, he's always going to have his quirky talking though he'll get better for the most part.

**LoliConArtist** That is a major compliment to my writing and I thank you. Though I do understand, I've actually gotten to the point where I only read stories that have a certain amount of reviews for the chapters it has. It's childish but it's the only way to find the REALLY good stories. I've read too many stories that have 'fallow' instead of 'follow' for me to go out and kill someone. I hate that mistake… But thank you for the compliment, and I hope this wasn't a let down.

**Crazy-Little-Neko** As long as you aren't addicted to the point of forgetting homework, work or sleep, then it's fine! But thank you.

Okay, it's 2:30 in the morning. Good night! (I have to be up in two hours but I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer...so enjoy!)


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.

**Through Fox's Eyes  
**_Chapter Fifteen_

Sarutobi held the magnifying glass close to the paper, frowning as he reread the words written in silver on the fading parchment. The scroll was over six hundred years old and hadn't been opened in over four, but he had found what he was looking for. Ever since Mizuki cut the seal, it had caused Naruto to become extremely unstable, the blonde battling for dominance once again over the demon trapped inside of him. Each day they were forced to watch once again as the Kyuubi tried to break down its host's chakra and force its own into his system.

He had been searching nonstop for a fortnight and he had yet to find anything that would work for more than an hour. He wasn't as skilled as Jiraiya when it came to seals and no matter how many ninjas he had sent out, none had been able to find the elusive Sanin. Sighing, he looked at the setting moon and shook away the weariness he felt in his bones. He was running out of time, the Council was calling for the blonde's death and if he couldn't find a way to suppress Kyuubi, Kitsune would be executed.

…_casting this jutsu is extremely difficult, but it can easily suppress chakra if done correctly. Both mind and spirit must be in agreement with each other to perform this jutsu and the user should be aware of the amount of chakra it uses. If the user does not hold enough, they will die. Begin by exercising one's mind and chakra control and then infuse chakra into each sign made: Dragon, Horse, Tiger, Dog, Fish and Hawk are used, but it must be followed in this order…_

Stopping, Sarutobi reread the passage and analyzed the jutsu. It certainly could work, but would it suppress both chakras or could he try to suppress only one? People did not contain two chakras normally and so jutsus to counter such instances were never created, there was no need. But if he altered this…it could possibly work. Turning up his kerosene lamp, he began to study the text carefully, dissecting each piece thoroughly. This had been the closest jutsu he had found to what he needed and he was certain it would work—at least temporarily—as long as he did it right. It had to last until Jiraiya could return and he hoped the man would soon, he had to, Kitsune was counting on him…

Jiraiya sulked in the corner of the bar, nursing his swollen jaw while the hit to his head had given him a headache that wasn't planning on leaving for quite a while. He had been travelling for the last two weeks looking for his elusive teammate and even had given up dozens of hours that he could've been using for his precious research and when he finally finds her, she hits him."You didn't have to hit me so hard." He whined, glaring at the two women across from him.

The first was a shy looking woman with black hair and soft features and Jiraiya was certain she was all soft curves and flawless skin beneath those clothes, but her blonde haired companion kept him from even trying to flirt with the young woman. Feeling the glare directed towards him, he slowly turned and assessed the second beauty; ample breasts, beautiful honey blonde hair, deceivingly warm brown eyes and a sexy attitude that would bring many men to their knees. Instead of suppleness, she was all muscle and aggressive power, too bad she was a bitch half the time. Even when they were children she would attack him for looking at a woman and damn did she know how to punch. And despite looking twenty five, the woman was almost sixty, that just made it all worse as he'd always found his teammate to be gorgeous…if not a little vain. Okay, very vain, but no one would tell her that because she'd deck them.

"Then you shouldn't have been peeping on us in the baths." Tsunade growled, arms crossed over his chest and exposing her breasts even more than they already were.

"I wasn't peeping on _you_," he said, "trust me, if I knew that it was your body I was looking at I would've left before you even divested. "

"Oh, so now I'm not attractive enough for your porn books?"

"Of course not! You're my age, my readers don't want to read about some blonde bombshell that's really sixty but looks twenty because she's too vain for wrinkles." He snapped, immediately regretting it as Tsunade broke the table in half. "Never mind! I'll make a special addition all about you and how hot you are, just don't hurt me!"

"Jiraiya, just shut up and tell me why you're here." She growled, glaring at the perverted man, he hadn't changed at all it seemed. Massaging her temples, she counted to ten before taking a calming breath. There was one time where she had held a crush for her old teammate and had once thought about seriously dating him, but that was all before she found out just how much of a womanizer he was. Still though…she couldn't stay mad at him and there was a soft spot in her heart for the idiot.

Suddenly turning serious, Jiraiya sighed and pulled a scroll out from his satchel. "The Hokage wants you to become his successor."

"…what?" She asked monotonously, already breaking the scroll open. "Why me?"

"I don't want it and he thinks you're the best choice anyway."

"Why now?" She asked, scanning the scroll that was nothing more than a summons. "You know the reason I don't want to become Hokage…" Her voice dropped as she held the locket around her neck between her fingers.

Jiraiya looked away, of course he knew why and he wished there was someone else but it was either her or him and he knew he'd be horrible at it. Tsunade's little brother and lover both strived to become Hokage and both died prematurely, causing the blonde to despise that dream. She respected the Hokage, but she couldn't stand how many people had died to achieve that title, her two loved ones included in that countless number. "Kyuubi is still alive."

Almost dropping the scroll, Tsunade looked up slack jawed. "How? I thought the vessel died seven or eight years ago."

"Yes, the caravan had been attacked and there were no survivors." Shizune added.

"I thought he was too, but apparently Uchiha Sasuke found him a few months back living like a feral child. What exactly transpired even I don't know but somehow the demon almost overpowered the vessel child and had killed quite a few shinobi before it was somehow contained. They were fighting for dominance and I had to change the seal just to allow the vessel to take control again."

"You mean it's still alive?"

"The demon? Yeah, you know they're practically immortal."

"I would think for the good of the country, Sandaime-sama would've ordered the vessel's execution."

"Naruto." Jiraiya said, "And I don't see why."

Tsunade clenched the scroll in one hand, bending the steel rod inside. "Because that thing is dangerous to the village, isn't that why it was being sent away?"

"Tsunade, what are you talking about?" Jiraiya asked, frowning at the blonde woman. She had always been a little hot headed and brash, but never had she been in agreement with executing a child. Of course, when did they stop being children? Seven? Ten? Twelve? Their first kill? In the shinobi world there really weren't any child, but Naruto was one, he just had a killer inside him. "Naruto had been sent away for his own protection because the _villagers_ were trying to kill _him._ Not the other way around."

"It shouldn't live."

"He." Jiraiya stressed.

"The Kyuubi killed Dan." She hissed, tears coming to her eyes.

"But the Kyuubi isn't Naruto and you know damn well that Dan never should've gone against the Hokage's orders!" Jiraiya growled.

"Don't you think I know that?"

"Well, apparently you don't because you're agreeing with executing an innocent bystander!" He said, suddenly angry with her. "It should be you who apologizes to that young boy because if it hadn't been for your lover attacking him, we wouldn't have sent him away just to be lost during a surprise attack on his caravan. He would've been a normal child in the village and better off than his part animal, part human self that he is now."

Ignoring most of her teammate's triad, she narrowed her eyes and spat, "Bystander? You just told me about how he killed a handful of shinobi."

"The Kyuubi did, not Naruto."

"Why are you protecting this…this…thing you don't even know?"

"Because I saw the child crying, I saw the way he fought with everything he had to deny that monster access to his body and I don't think he should be punished for what has been placed inside of him. He didn't choose that and has led a hard enough life as it is, but he didn't survive this long to just be 'put down' by anyone. Sarutobi believes in keeping him alive and has been fighting to keep the Council from executing him."

"And you think I should become Hokage." She laughed bitterly, the locket now encircled by her hand. "If you make me Hokage then I will have him executed."

"Not if you met him, I know you wouldn't."

Tsunade shook her head, "No, it wouldn't matter. I know what he is capable of and that it would be better to rid ourselves of a potential threat before it becomes a threat."

"But what if the threat can become an ally? Wouldn't that be a better choice?"

"You think the Kyuubi would help those who caged it?"

"No, but I think if we train the child to become stronger then he'll be able to wield the Kyuubi's power without fearing the demon taking over."

"Why take the chance?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "Why not?"

Pursing her lips, she sighed and tapped the bent scroll against her upper arm. "You still haven't told me why he chose me."

"Tsunade, you were the smartest among us, you know various types of jutsus and have rarely been defeated in a fight, hell you can beat me almost any day! You care about the people too and you're one of the most skilled medics there are, plus," he grinned, "no one would ever think about disobeying you. You'd beat them into a bloody pulp and then order them to get to it anyway."

She laughed, "That's for sure."

"You're the best choice for this, trust me."

"Shizune?"

The young woman smiled, not fazed at all by the outbursts her companion had made nor the broken table at her feet. She was way too used to this… "Hai?"

"Do you want to return to Konoha?" The blonde asked, "I would like to keep you by me if I can, but I understand if you'd rather not return." The village held many painful memories for both of them and she had been trying to outrun them all her life, Shizune just refused to leave her side. It was probably a good thing too as Tsunade was sure she'd be sitting in a jail cell by now if Shizune wasn't there to constantly bail her out.

"It certainly would be more stable than our present life…and I think you'd make a great Hokage, Tsunade-san." She said, standing slowly.

Looking from one to the other, Tsunade sighed and finally nodded. "I'll go and speak with Sarutobi, but I want to meet the Kyuubi's vessel. If after a week I still want him dead then I'll refuse to become Hokage-sama's successor, but if he can change my mind…then I'll agree to it as well as protect him from the Council."

Jiraiya smiled, he knew she had a soft spot for children and there was no way that cute blonde fox wouldn't be able to sway her opinion. "You'll love him."

She snorted and then waited impatiently as Jiraiya continued to sit there. Finally tiring of waiting, she grabbed his arm and squeezed it tightly. "Well, let's get moving! I have to skip town before they figure out just how much I owe the yakuza!" She growled, pulling him out of his seat and dragging him out of the bar.

"YAKUZA?!"

Sasuke grunted as he blocked Kakashi's kick, clenching his teeth against the pain and dug his feet into the ground. Grabbing Kakashi's ankle, Sasuke twisted it to unbalance the silver haired jounin and brought his leg up to kick his opponent in the back. He grinned as he felt his leg connect and released Kakashi's ankle to get away before the jounin recovered.

Keeping his anger in check, Sasuke watched the replacement log break into splinters against the ground, Kakashi long gone. Opening his senses for any hints to where his sensei might be hiding, Sasuke armed himself and glared across the plains. _He's not above me, that's for certain as there aren't any trees…he could be in the tall grass, but that's not his style. That leaves beneath me_ Jumping, he just missed the hands reaching up from the ground to grab him and smirked, certain he had the man now. Making a series of seals, he yelled, "_Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu_" and brought his fingers to his lips to blow through.

Yet before the flames spiraling downwards could even touch a single blade of grass, a gloved hand covered his mouth while another struck him into the chest, forcing the breath from his lungs out and causing a cloud of smoke to surround them. Wind rushing by them, Sasuke tried to relax his body as much as possible before impact, but he could feel his ribs bend beneath the pressure as he was slammed into the ground. Groaning, he slowly pushed himself up and steadily rose to his feet, immediately on guard once more.

"Very good Sasuke," Kakashi clapped as his student glared at him, "you're improving every day, but you have to pay attention to your surroundings, not just your enemies. If I had allowed those flames to touch the ground we'd be fighting a wildfire right now instead of each other. It hasn't rained in weeks now and the grass is as dry as kindling, a single spark will ignite a blaze in this field."

Snorting, Sasuke relaxed his stance and turned to dust off his shirt, wincing as his fingers came in contact with his bruised ribs. "When will we get another C mission?" He asked as he picked up his pack and turned back to his sensei. For the past few months while they had to babysit Naruto, the only missions they had received were barely ranking and always nearby just in case something came up with the damn blonde dobe.

"Well, the Chuunin exams begin in a month or so…" Kakashi shrugged, "so it depends on if you guys pass it or not. Why? Bored of painting fences, Sasuke?" He received a glare in response and chuckled as the Uchiha heir practically stomped away. "And get those ribs looked at!"

Growling, Sasuke walked back to his house and glared at the genin teacher standing in his kitchen. This was his damned house and yet here he was having to play host to three imbeciles, at least beforehand he could've kicked them out, but now they were here under the Hokage's orders. Even if he tore the house down, he still wouldn't be allowed to kick them off his land, which was more aggravating than being stuck with D rank missions. He ignored Iruka's calls and stormed up to his room to brood, one of his favorite pastimes. Screw his bruised ribs, he was used to taking care of himself and he didn't need anyone's help, especially the blonde dobe. So what if the creature saved his life once or twice? If it wasn't for Naruto in the first place, he never would've been placed in those situations.

"Sasuke?" Iruka asked, knocking lightly on the door. "Is everything all right?"

"Hai." He growled out, tearing his shirt off and carefully prodding the bruised skin. Hissing, he applied the cool ointment and slowly wrapped his chest once it had dried, annoyed that Iruka had yet to move from his spot next to the door. "Was there something you needed, Iruka-san?" He asked, pulling a new shirt over his protesting chest.

The Chuunin stared quietly at him before smiling slightly and saying, "Would you like to visit Naruto this afternoon?"

"No, why would I?"

"Oh…" Iruka said, his smile wavering, "Well, he's been asking about you."

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his sweaty locks. "Is he under control?"

"The Kyuubi hasn't surfaced in almost a month now, Naruto's been steadily gaining back his strength and Ebisu-san is teaching him how to control his chakra. He's actually getting pretty good at it, though he still seems to be struggling with even the easiest jutsus. Whatever seal Hokage-sama placed on him seems to be keeping the Kyuubi under control for now."

"Has the Hokage woken up yet?"

Iruka sighed and shook his head slowly, "No, he's still in a coma." Apparently the amount of chakra he had to use for that seal was too much so soon after his last attempt to suppress the Kyuubi. The doctor said it was a combination of exhaustion and chakra depletion that sent the old man into a coma, but he had succeeded in suppressing the fox demon…only he had partially suppressed Naruto's own chakra as well. Trying to teach the blonde to reach for it was proving to be much harder than they had thought it would be and even Ebisu was beginning to become frustrated.

Sasuke cocked his head, "You don't agree with keeping him in isolation?"

"He isn't a threat." Iruka snapped, "With Naruto learning how to control and suppress chakra, he's been able to keep the Kyuubi at bay. I know he still fights his battle against the demon, but he's under control and should be allowed to just come home."

Thinking carefully, Sasuke had to admit he was curious to know how the blonde was doing, but he wasn't too keen on visiting him. He'd have rather waited until Naruto returned home… Of course, chances of that were looking slim as the Council was still crying out for the 'demon's' death. Finally deciding it was best to just get it over with, he opened the door and stared at that scarred teacher. "Fine."

Smiling brightly, Iruka let out a sigh of relief and motioned Sasuke downstairs, thus ending his brooding time. Glaring at the chuunin's back, Sasuke tromped down the stairs and sat at the table, staring at the lunch Iruka had prepared. It had been years since someone had regularly prepared dinner for him despite he usually had a basket or two of lunches, dinners and the likes usually sitting at his doorstep every day.

Even when his family was still alive and thriving, no one did something for absolutely no reason, not without expecting later payment of some sort. And yet Iruka prepared all the meals daily without hesitance as if it were expected of him…he never even complained about it either. "Why do you make all the meals?" He finally asked once Iruka had sat down next to him, Kakashi yet to make an appearance.

"Well, I enjoy cooking for one and I guess I'm used to it in a way." He smiled, dipping his rice into his soup.

"You lived alone."

Iruka nodded and smiled, "But not always. I lost my parents to the Kyuubi's attack thirteen years ago and with no other relatives, I lived in the orphanage. I usually helped out in the kitchen so I was used to making dinner for quite a few people as well as cleaning up after them and washing the dishes too. Old habits die hard, I guess."

"How old were you when Naruto was sent away?"

"Hm…I had just become a chuunin, so about sixteen."

"Did you know?"

"That he was leaving?" Iruka asked, smiling as Sasuke nodded his head. "Well yes, I was his guardian after all. They had placed Naruto in the orphanage with me, but once I was old enough to rent a place on my own, I did so. I knew how the people at the orphanage treated him so I took him with me, he had been four then. It was a year later that they decided to send him away after an assassination attempt almost killed me."

Sasuke looked up from his plate, his head cocked slightly to the left. "Assassination?"

The smile slipped from his face and he sighed, "Word had gotten out about Naruto's…condition. We had dealt with a few dignitaries demanding his death, but one night after I had just returned from a mission, Naruto was attacked and almost killed. I wasn't scheduled to return for another two days and the man, Dan, decided it would be the best time to attack him. As it was, that man was a friend of mine and had befriended Naruto first, so Hokage-sama asked him to watch over Naruto for me as he had other duties to attend to that night. It was pure luck I had returned early and that Naruto was able to confuse the bastard with Kage no Bunshin."

"Kage no Bunshin?" Sasuke asked in shock, "The idiot?"

"Mm-hmm. He was just learning to read and Hokage-sama had taken him for the day, somehow the little miscreant had slipped into the forbidden scrolls room and decided to practice reading. It was certainly a surprise to find a room full of Narutos, Hokage-sama almost had a heart attack after finding out the scroll Naruto was reading, but thankfully he had only gotten through the first jutsu and no further."

"Why can't he can't use it now?"

"He doesn't remember, I believe, and Jiriaya-sama had spoken to us about how something was wrong with Naruto's chakra flow. It's possible as he remembers, he could possibly use that jutsu, but first he'll have to learn how to control his chakra better. He's picking up words and such, but he's still far behind even the newest beginners starting academy classes."

"Hn." Returning to his food, a comfortable silence fell between them and both finished their breakfasts before clearing the table and dumping the dishes into the sink for later. Trying to focus, Sasuke kept finding his mind wander back to the blonde fox, curious to know what other things had been hidden in Naruto's past. That he could do Kage no Bunshin at such a young age suggested a large reservoir of chakra, but was it Naruto's or Kyuubi's? And then why was Naruto scared to use chakra now? He remembered hearing how the blonde had reacted to Kakashi trying to teach it to him and as far as he knew, they hadn't made any progress in that department with Ebisu other than little things like running faster or using it to climb walls quicker. Otherwise the blonde was a natural with taijutsu and had no qualms about using a kunai or shirukin and he was incredibly fast. Add to it his unnatural healing ability, bounds of energy and deadly killer instinct, and he was certainly the makings of a great ninja. If he would use chakra that is.

"I was thinking about leaving in an hour or so to go visit Naruto, is that alright, Sasuke?" Iruka asked, putting the leftovers in the fridge of later. He looked at the raven and smiled at the serious expression on the Uchiha's face, that boy never took anything as less than a mission of some sorts. Everything needed to be calculated, thought out and concise before he would act upon it and yet his attitude was usually quite disagreeable. Despite being soft spoken, he was arrogant and though he was hot by physical standards, he was cold emotionally, to the point where some would say without anger, he was emotionless.

Glancing over his shoulder, Sasuke nodded and then moved into the living room, grabbing a random book from the shelf and sitting down on the couch. Lounging back, he flipped through the page and opened it up somewhere in the middle, picking it up at the second paragraph. He had read every book in his house and then some, he knew most by heart and so it didn't matter if he had flipped halfway through the story as he already knew what happened at the end. This particular story was about a young man wooing the princess of a faraway kingdom where the town's people were against his advances. A traditional story, but boring, the entire thing was written in prose and sonnets and Sasuke found them more annoying than anything else. But at least it was something to pass the time…

Iruka smiled at the nurse as they moved down the hall, Sasuke following slowly behind him. Carrying a basket in one hand, the chuunin flashed his ID at the Anbu guarding a supposedly abandoned hall and nodded towards Sasuke as well, indicating the genin was with him.

The Hawk Anbu barely nodded his head as he shifted to the right, allowing the two to pass by before blocking the doorway once more. Sasuke looked over his shoulder at the Anbu and masked his surprise at noticing the band around the Anbu's arm marking the unknown shinobi as a Captain. Was Naruto so dangerous they were placing an entire team of Anbu around him? For wherever a Captain was, so was his or her team, no Anbu ever worked alone unless specially ordered to by the Hokage himself.

Sasuke turned back to Iruka and followed the motherly chuunin to the end of the hall where another Anbu was standing guard. Iruka showed the Anbu his bag and smiled, the Anbu nodded slightly and opening the door for them to enter through. Sasuke was barely inside before the door slammed closed behind him, the click of the lock informing him of his trapped state. Turning his attention to the cubicle's prisoner, he almost smirked at the nest lying on the bed.

Three or four blankets along with the bed's sheets had been twirled into a hollow half spherical shape in which Naruto was curled up in. The snoozing blonde foxling barely moved from his nest as Iruka sat the food down on the small nightstand beside the bed and growled when Iruka tried to shake him awake. "Come on now," Iruka growled back, smacking the blonde's head gently.

Hazy blue eyes tried to form into a glare, but it failed drastically as the little fox sat up and rubbed them with balled hands. Giving a large yawn and showing his canines, Kitsune cocked his head and murmured, "Iru-nii early." Pouting at his disturbed sleep, he stood and scowled down at the lounge pants they made him wear and then looked up at his visitors. Face lighting up, he tackled Sasuke to the ground and let out a small series of yips.

"What the hell, dobe, get off!" He growled, harshly pushing the boy off of him. Since Kitsune had come to live with them, he had gained muscle and weight and despite staying lithe, he certainly was heavier than before.

Whining, Kitsune moved away and sat hunched on the floor, blue eyes peeking through scraggly bangs and watching steadily as Sasuke picked himself up off the floor. "Teme..."

Glaring at the nickname, he stayed silent and leaned casually back against the wall, shifting his attention to Iruka to see what the Chuunin did when he came here.

"Ah well, it's seems you're much better today." Iruka smiled, "And I brought you a treat from home today."

If it were possible, the blonde's ears would've perked up at the thought of food. "Ramen?" He immediately asked, eyes strangely glowing at the word.

"No, you had that yesterday, Kitsune, you can't have that every day." Iruka scolded gently as he pulled out leftovers from their breakfast. "I've brought you rice and chicken with tempora."

"No." He pouted, "Ramen."

"Naruto..." Iruka sighed, immediately seeing his mistake as those blue eyes flashed blood red.

"No! Kitsune, Kitsune, Kitsune!" He screamed, "No Naruto, Naruto bad. Kitsune good, Kitsune is Kitsune, not Naruto."

Iruka frowned, despite reacting badly to that name, the blonde hadn't acted like this since they first found him. "Why is Naruto bad?"

"Naru bad boy." Kitsune growled, "Kitsune good."

"Why?" Iruka asked gently, trying to approach the fox-child, but immediately stopped as he skittered back out of reach.

"Bad! Bad, bad, bad!" He raged, unable to communicate with his little vocabulary. He couldn't understand why they wouldn't leave it at that. Naruto was bad, he was good. No one ever beat Kitsune, only Naruto and so that must mean that Naruto was bad. It was Naruto who let Kyuubi take control all those years ago and it was Kitsune who forced the demon back once more. Naruto and Kyuubi were bad and Kitsune was good.

Sasuke snorted, "You idiot, Kitsune _is_ Naruto. You," he pointed at the blonde, "are Naruto."

"NO!" He raged, picking up the bed and throwing it at them, the small bedside table following in quick succession. "No, no, no, no!"

Glaring at the Uchiha, Iruka quickly tried to pin the blonde, eyes widening as a blue glow began to slowly appear around the boy. "Shit…" He muttered under his breath, of course it'd be now the little fox would use chakra despite his avid refusal of it during training. Glancing at Sasuke, he said slowly, "Sasuke, alert the guards, there's a panel near the door. This room is protected against chakra, the guards won't sense it through these walls." When Sasuke didn't move immediately, he snapped, "Now!" and turned back to the blonde, no longer caring if Sasuke moved or not.

"Kitsune not Naruto. Kitsune not bad!" He howled, "Kitsune good, not bad. Not bad."

"Calm down, Kitsune." Iruka cooed, trying desperately to approach the fox.

"No, no, no!" The blonde cried."Not bad, _I'm not bad_." Came a voice more steady than Kitsune had ever had. Fists clenched beside him, Naruto looked at Iruka while tears pooled beneath his eyes. "I'm not bad, Iruka-nii."

"Naruto?" He whispered in awe, immediately regretting the word as pain registered in those blue eyes.

Iruka watched as Naruto fell beneath the surface and once more Kitsune took control, blue eyes swirling with anger and hurt. "Kitsune not bad."

"No, Kitsune isn't bad." Iruka whispered soothingly, smiling reassuringly at the boy. He watched as the blue haze began to fade, his chakra returning to a non-visible state.

"Umino-san, move away from the monster." A deep voice suddenly said from behind him.

Glaring over his shoulder, he looked at the Hawk Anbu and frowned. "I do not need your assistance with this matter any longer. I have him under control."

"We are under orders by the Council that if the demon showed any signs of violent intent that we are to execute him."

"No! You can't do that, he wasn't being violent." Iruka cried, grabbing the Anbu's sleeve.

Green eyes looked at the twisted metal frame of the bed lying against the wall. "That isn't violent? I have my orders Umino-san, we have no choice but to follow the Council's orders."

"But what about Hokage-sama's ruling?" He asked even as ttwo other Anbu members arrived. Iruka bit his lip the three advanced on the whimpering foxling.

"I'm sorry, but with Hokage-sama in a coma, we have no choice but to follow the Council's orders." The Anbu said, though he didn't sound apologetic to Iruka's ears, before rushing towards the blonde boy and quickly incapacitating him. Iruka watched, frozen in his place, as the other three quickly came to their Captain's aid and helped hold Kitsune down. Yowls pierced the halls as they dragged the now chained fox to his feet.

"No, please stop this." Iruka muttered, coming to his feet and following them as the pulled the blonde down the hall. "You can't do this! You have to stop, please, they'll kill him if you bring him before the Council!"

"Please remain here."

"No! I will not." Iruka said, grabbing at the Anbu's vest.

"Umino-san, if you continue this, I will have you incapacitated." The Hawk Anbu snapped, glaring over his shoulder and shrugging the Chuunin's hand off.

Growling, Iruka rushed past them and stopped, turning with his arms spread wide. "Then do so because I refuse to let you take that boy."

"Umino-san…I am warning you once more…"

"Let him go." He ordered, grabbing a handful of shirukin. He knew there would be no way for him to defeat three Anbu, but at least he could delay this until someone else could come to help. If anyone would come to help…

The Hawk Anbu walked towards him, green eyes pinning the Chuunin in his spot. Grabbing the hand holding the shirukin, he slammed Iruka into the wall and brought a knee into his stomach. "You are an idiot." He muttered, waving the other two Anbu through as he pressed his fingers to Iruka's neck. He watched as Iruka slumped into his arms, unconscious, and set him down on the ground. Standing, he straightened his clothes and then followed the other two as Kitsune continued to scream.

Sasuke watched, eyes narrowing as they continued to drag the foxling away. Slipping into the side room, he opened the window and slid onto the rooftop. With the Hokage in a coma, he could only hope Kakashi had enough weight to save Kitsune. He wasn't about to let the Council murder his only friend…not after he finally made one.

Dhampir  
Page 10  
2/2/08

Ugh…finally got another chapter done! This one was re-written quite a few times, so sorry for the wait. Between constantly being sick, two jobs, classes and a wedding to plan my time is extremely limited. Add to it that I get internet about once a month, it's even worse.

And yes, I know how Dan really died, but I do love throwing twists into everything. And since this is an alternate universe (sort of), I can have him die however I want. That's what I chose, so sorry if you don't like it.

Onto my reviews!

**KaiPhoenix** Yes, they're going to have a brotherly bond as far as I can see. I have a lot of people pushing for it to be yaoi, but I don't think it will turn into that.

**QueenTigris** Hehe, thank you and no I haven't forgotten it. Um…as for Gaara, I don't know how I want them to meet yet. I'm still pondering that.

**Itallia** Yeah, I hated that schedule. I don't have it anymore though, yay! And yeah, that's true. Sasuke will be getting back into serious training soon so yeah, no worries on that part.

**Escape5:** Yes, in a sense there are three presences in Naruto's body. There's Naruto, Kitsune and Kyuubi. As you saw in this chapter, Naruto surfaced for a brief moment, I don't really know how much he will surface, but I wanted to bring him into it.

**LoliConArtist** Well thank you, your review was certainly inspiring. I know what you mean as well, I always search for stories that are over 10,000 words. It seems like people who are looking to write longer stories are more serious writers and therefore their quality of work is high. It certainly helps me get through the fan girl writers. And yes, I agree with your point. By the time I got to that, I was so pissed off with that chapter, I really didn't care any more and just posted it as it was. I'm glad a lot of people didn't find it too horrifying. Hehe, I have trouble not apologizing, I apologize for things that aren't even my fault…but I'll try. Thanks!

**Fox Loves Shinigami:** Aw, I'm glad I got another Jane Lindskold fan! She's wonderful.

**MikoKriszty** Hehe, a yes, he got her to come back with him, but now there's another dilemma. I do love to torture my characters….

**Shinigami Clara:** Oh, I know! They are getting so complicated now and you just don't know what's going to happen next and I want to scream! Well, I hope you finished Wolf's Blood (so awesome!) and I hope you liked this chapter as well.

**Darkangelwings90:** You made a fanart of it? Oh, I'd love to see it! I can't draw worth shit so I appreciate anyone's talent (trust me, I can't even draw a stick figure correctly as was pointed out by my five year old cousin…) I'd love to see it and I'm so glad you enjoyed my story so far.

**Lystee** Oh, I do the same thing. I get so worked up that I get to the last written chapter and scream because I want it to be done. Honestly, if I stopped reading fanfiction, I could probably write a lot faster…hehe. Thank you though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

**Goatis** I see you have seen what should've been seen. Yes, it is their fault for not correctly handling the situation and hoping that Naruto would miraculously reappear. I want Naruto to come back, but it's a long time coming (I think)…and so they have to deal with Kitsune and Kyuubi until then, but at least now we know why Naruto is suppressed.

**Addict101:** Sorry, but this story (once again)** will not contain yaoi**, it's just not plausible in the storyline. I think I've stated this quite a few times, so I'm sorry if you missed that or will be disappointed, but no yaoi in this story. I've written a few others if you like my writing style that contains yaoi and so you can read those for a fix, but this one will remain straight. Pairing wise, I have had no thoughts concerning that nor do I think I will any time soon. I hope you can enjoy the story anyway.

**Krazy Kitsune13:** I agree, SasuSaku just don't go together. I think Sasuke would kill himself before that would ever happen. As for that jutsu, I guess I answered it, hehe. And thanks I love Kyuubi (probably a little too much), I have a thing for evil people…it's why I love Itachi too! And yes, it seems the majority wants this to be yaoi and no matter how many times I say it won't be, I still receive numerous e-mails asking when Sasuke will kiss Kitsune.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Naruto** nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** This is loosely based off of **Through Wolf's Eyes** by Jane Linskold

**Through Fox's Eyes_  
_**_Chapter Sixteen_

A high pitched yowl broke through the jeering crowd as the guards pulled the defenseless child behind them. Stopping in the center of the village's court The Council stood to Kitsune's right while the crowd of people surrounded his left and flank, the guards blocking anything that was possibly in front of him.

The manacles they had placed around his wrists burned and his incessant pulling had chafed the sensitive skin to where they bled. Tears tracking down his face, the blonde pulled against the Anbu guards, two of them snickering at his feeble attempts while the third kept his back turned to him.

"I have done what was asked of me, the demon child has proven to be a threat and I have brought him before the Council as ordered." The Anbu said, his voice loud and booming over the crowd. "I wash my hands of this." Turning, he walked away and disappeared into the swarm of people, not even looking back once to see the crying boy crumpling to the stoned ground.

"This isn't like you." Someone said, grabbing his arm firmly.

Looking over his shoulder, he glared at the taller shinobi, jerking his arm out of the silver haired man's grip. "I won't kill an innocent child, but I won't stop them from killing a demon, Kakashi."

"He was in control, the Kyuubi hadn't broken free."

"He was using chakra."

"If using chakra makes us demons, then we are all condemned."

The Anbu looked over Kakashi's shoulder at the young dark haired boy standing not far from them. "You're that boy from earlier." He said, dark green eyes sliding over to Kakashi once more, "I see you went to get help, why?"

"If anyone gets to kill that idiot, it should be me." Sasuke said, glaring at the Anbu Captain.

Shaking his head, the man began to chuckle before it slowly turned into boisterous laughter, "You think you can kill a demon, boy? Have you even killed someone before?"

"Actually, he has three kills and a successful completion of a B-ranked mission already. He hasn't even been a genin for a full year yet so…" Kakashi shrugged, looking over his shoulder to where Kitsune lay panting on the ground. "And does he look like a demon to you? All I see is a boy who has a past more horrible than most."

"I did as I was ordered, nothing more and nothing less." He answered, his voice cold as he stared at the blonde child. "I'll have no other part in this, so leave me be." Glaring at Kakashi, he spun on his heel and disappeared once more into the throng of people.

Sighing, the silver haired nin turned to survey the situation, his eye picking up the strategically placed shinobi who were in hiding in case the child broke free. It was rare for him to be serious, but he couldn't find any amusement in their predicament nor could he find any escape for Kitsune. Either they would be killed on sight for trying to help the blonde or they would be tried with him as conspirators, thus being killed later. So it was a choice of dying now or in a few hours…

Tsunade growled deep in her throat, the veins in her forehead pulsating in anger, all because the damn pervert got knocked out once more for his lewd remarks. "How does he live like this?" She huffed, carrying the large man on her back.

"I'm certain the women he usually accompanies aren't as strong as you, Tsunade-sama." Shizune answered with a smile.

"This is the fifth time! You'd think he'd have learned his lesson and I wouldn't have to keep carrying his sorry ass."

"You don't have to knock him unconscious every time, Tsunade-sama."

The blonde glared, hefting the male higher on her back. "It's the only way to get him to shut up."

Shizune chuckled, smiling at the two as they continued towards Konoha. They probably would've already reached the village if the two old comrades could stop arguing for a few minutes, but it seemed as natural to them as breathing. They had been traveling on the road for over a week now and Jiraiya still hadn't learned his lesson…she was beginning to wonder if all the fists to his head were causing brain damage. In the least they certainly seemed to be causing short term amnesia as the man would awaken and immediately make some comment about Tsunade's body or chest.

"GAH!" The blonde suddenly screamed, flipping Jiraiya off her back and into the ground one handed. "You fucking pervert!" Shoving her foot into his chest, she stepped over him and fumed down the trail, muttering, "I'm starting to think he's doing this on purpose so he can cop a feel, damn pervert."

Sniggering, Shizune watched as the Sannin picked himself up off the ground and gave her a sheepish smile before following after the blonde. "What can I say? I'm a masochist." He said, winking at her from over his shoulder.

Snorting her laughter, she watched as the two of them argued as he tried to get into her good graces in all the wrong ways. Fondly smiling, she heaved her bag to the other shoulder and started trekking after them, wondering just what was going to happen next.

"Silence!" The head elder yelled, standing and waiting until the crowd quieted. "Is there any objection to this _child_," he sneered, "being tried as an adult S class missing nin?"

"What?" Kakashi hissed quietly, his visible eye widening in surprise. "He's only thirteen years old!"

Yet no one moved to protect the blonde, now resting on his haunches. The boy looked pitiful with his tear streaked face and thin body, cuts and scratches could be seen around his waist and chest and the chakra reinforced shackles had burned the skin around his wrists raw. Blood ran freely from a cut on his temple as well as down his arms from the burns on his wrists. His feet were bloody from being pulled and jerked around and his knees had become skinned when he had fallen. Since the seal had been placed, Kyuubi's chakra wasn't mixing and Kitsune had lost his quick healing abilities…he'd probably never really even seen his own blood like this before.

"Acting in the place of the Hokage while he is unable to make this decision, we find Uzumaki Naruto guilty of murder in the highest degree on seventeen counts. His sentence is immediate death." The elder said and though his voice was grave, the smile on his face betrayed his sincerity.

Looking at the blonde, Kakashi ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck." Pushing through the crowd, he finally reached the front as the elders were beginning to retreat back into the safety of their tower. "I've been placed as this boy's guardian and therefore I am held accountable for any and all of his crimes, not him."

One of the elders turned, "You are the guardian of Uchiha Sasuke, not of that demon. And as you can see, its guardian isn't here."

"Then this farce of a trial should wait until _his_ guardian can been contacted and collected." He almost growled, trying to keep his easy going manner and horribly failing.

"Kakakashi?" Kitsune pitifully mewled. "We go home now?"

Looking down at the blonde, he smiled behind his mask, "Hai, we go home now."

The crowd surged, anger emitting from the people and the elders bustled back, outraged by his words. "That thing is a demon! We tried to have it killed before and we will kill it before it turns on us."

Pulling out a kunai, Kakashi cocked his head to the side, "Are you saying that the elders of this village are the ones responsible for the slaughtering of that caravan eight years ago?"

"O-of course not!" One sputtered, "It was probably that demon trying to escape that killed them. Why would we kill some of the most skilled shinobi we had?"

"It's all worth it if it gets rid of him, right?"

The crowd stilled, the incident was still fresh in many people's minds. Even though they had lost three hundred people that night to Kyuubi, the massacre that occurred during that caravan was worse. Small children, aspiring genins and more than a handful of rising shinobi and their families had all been murdered during their trip to start a new village. The death toll was close to eighty in the end and it was a terrible day for all of the shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. The ones responsible had never been found and no leads to whom it could've ever been.

Naruto was the sole survivor and even he didn't really seem to have survived. All that was left were remnants of the five year old boy mixed with Kyuubi's demonic instincts and wild nature. And yet, even now when he looked at the blonde, he couldn't see a demon, just a broken child much like Sasuke.

"That thing is too dangerous to remain alive." Another elder cried, "Don't you understand? The demon could take control at any time and—"

"Hokage-sama placed a seal to keep the Kyuubi from taking control. No, it's not perfect, but it'll help us."

"Kill the abomination and get over it." The lead elder ordered, glaring at the crowd. "Anyone who protects that demon is a traitor to the peace of Konoha, we decree this."

"Maa…then I guess I'm a traitor." Kakashi said, shrugging his shoulders.

"As am I." Another voice said, Sasuke appearing at his teacher's side.

Neji stepped away from the crowd, gracefully avoiding his uncle's grabbing hands. "Then try me as well."

Hesitantly Sakura stepped out as well. "Me too."

"What the hell is going on here?" Someone asked, pushing their way through the crowd. The four 'traitors' watched as the crowd was suddenly separated by a large fan, giving them a perfect view of the spectacle. "What? Y'all are picking on some kid? Is there really no other entertainment in this village?"

"And who are you?"

"Subaku Temari." She smirked, "And these are my siblings, Gaara" she added, pointing to the red head and then continued while pointing to her other companion, "and Kankuro. We're here for the Chuunin exams."

The lead elder shuffled forward, his eyes widening once he saw the siblings clearly. "You three…are you the Kazekage's children?"

"Yup, that's us." Kankuro grinned.

"We'll clean this mess up right now, so if you'll follow us we'll take you to your rooms. Don't mind the demon child there, it'll be disposed of shortly."

Gaara narrowed his eyes, sensing his two siblings turning their gazes towards him. "Demon child?" He asked, his voice flat as he surveyed the scene. Certainly these people didn't know about Shukaku, it was a secret that wasn't spoken of outside their village.

"Yes, the blonde," the elder spat, "It's to be destroyed as soon as we arrest these traitors."

"Certainly doesn't look like a demon to me." Temari said, scrutinizing the blonde.

"Don't let its outside form fool you, that thing is a ruthless killer, killed seventeen of our finest ninjas already." The man said, nodding his head slowly.

A sudden growling interrupted whatever the woman was going to say next. "Shukaku." Kitsune growled, eyes flashing red.

Gaara's breath hitched as his own demon responded to the name, the one tailed youkai fighting against the harsh control he exerted over it. Looking at the blonde, he felt the demon's name appearing in his mind as if he had always known it. "Kyuubi." He muttered, surprised that the most powerful of youkai was sealed within such a pitiful human. His sister cocked her head, sending him a silent question at the name, but he refused to take his eyes off the boy. Shukaku wanted to fight him, it didn't matter that Kyuubi had eight more tails than he, and it was taking all his concentration to keep the demon under control. Yet the blonde just shook his head as if a gnat were bothering him and that killing intent disappeared, along with those blood red eyes.

"Jouchu," Temari suddenly said, hands on her hips, "the Kazekage wouldn't be pleased to learn that you're sacrificing little children to better your genins chances of winning in this test."

"W-what?" He squawked, "We would never do such a thing."

"If that's true…" she smirked, glancing at Gaara and waiting for his nod before continuing, "then I demand you wait to finish your barbaric ritual until after the Chuunin exam is complete. It's the only way to be certain you aren't trying to cheat your way through it."

"Of course we wouldn't! Our genin don't need any extra help, they are all skilled and many will pass this year's Chuunin exams!" Another huffed, his face red with anger.

"How do we know that you won't just kill the kid later?" Kankuro asked, eying the scene around him. "After all, you claim he's a demon and should be destroyed, how do we—"

"Kankuro." Gaara spoke, arms crossed over his chest, "Enough."

Cringing, the shinobi fell quiet and glanced at his younger brother. _What the hell is he so worked up about?_

"Naruto isn't a demon, but you refuse to give us the chance to show you that." A voice suddenly said, causing the crowd to part so a bruised and bloodied Iruka could appear. "What happened that night wasn't his fault and the Hokage worked to stop the Kyuubi from gaining control of him again. The seal's in place and he hasn't shown any signs of losing control again."

"That monster killed our own shinobi!" One of the councilwomen yelled, her graying hair falling around her shoulders. "How can you defend it?"

"Because we're the ones that did this to him." Iruka raged back, panting hard at his broken and bruised ribs. "We have a responsibility to him, he was supposed to be seen as a hero, not a demon. He saved out village from total destruction—"

"The Yondiame saved our village from total destruction; he just used some whore's git to seal the demon inside! It was never supposed to actually _live!_"

"What demon?" Sakura suddenly asked, causing the elders to suddenly fall silent. "You mean the Kyuubi no Kitsune? But I thought it was killed, isn't that what we celebrate on October 10th?"

The crowd suddenly disrupted into chaos, questions arose from the younger generations while protests came from the adults' lips. Their voices rose as explanations were demanded and Naruto's death was commanded, the crowd surging with anger and confusion.

Stumbling to Kakashi's side, Iruka knelt down beside the blonde and pulled him into a quick embrace, glaring murderously at anyone who looked at them the wrong way. Petting back sweaty blonde spikes, he inspected the boy and growled at the bloody mess made of his wrists from the shackles.

Flinching, Kitsune tried to scoot away, understanding the menacing growl, but Iruka pulled him back and quickly tried to soothe him. Wild eyed and in pain, he looked up at his caretaker and gave a yowl that was drowned out by the crowd. "Go home?" He whispered, "Please?"

"Hai, we'll go home." Iruka smiled, patting the blonde on the head.

The lead elder raised his hands to quiet the crowd and then waved the other six council members over to him. Keeping their voices down, the seven conferred together while those around them strained to hear what was being said.

Kakashi waited, his shirukin still ready in one hand as he kept an eye on the ninjas scattered around them. From their indecision, it was apparent they didn't think a well known jounin such as him would defend a demon like Naruto. Of course, they didn't know Naruto and therefore didn't understand what the petite blonde had gone through his entire life.

"We've come to a decision." The elder suddenly shouted, turning around to face Kitsune's protectors as well as the Subaku siblings. "If you can prove that this…demon is somehow human by the time the Chuunin Exam ends, it can live. Otherwise, it will be destroyed."

The crowd surged again, angry shouts and insults were thrown as Iruka whisked the blonde away, the others following close behind, before the elders could decide to change their minds. They might suddenly decide to appease the crowd than the children of the Kazekage and he wasn't about to wait to find out.

"Sasuke." Kakashi said, eyes remaining trained on Iruka's retreating form, "I need you to find that Anbu captain, only he or the Hokage can release those manacles. I have other business I need to attend to."

"Hn." Grabbing Neji's hand, the Uchiha heir broke away from the retreating group and dragged his distant cousin along with him to find the Anbu. "Search east, I'll search west."

Nodding, Neji sprinted to the left and took to the roofs, his sandaled feet barely making any noise as he looked for the Anbu captain he'd seen earlier. Though he wasn't exactly friends with the blonde, he was fond of him and despite his brush with Kitsune's instincts, he didn't believe the boy was the demon they called him.

Kakashi stood outside the door, guarding it while Iruka and Sakura remained at Naruto's side, the kinouchi guarding both of them as Iruka was busy placating the blonde. He had already spoken to the Elders and made sure they knew if anything happened to Naruto, they could expect their deaths to follow. He wouldn't put it past them to have assassins sent after the blonde after proclaiming he had a possibility of living.

Sasuke and Neji had yet to appear with the Anbu and the chakra chains weren't coming off without him. Iruka was cleaning Kitsune's wounds as carefully as possible, but there was only so much he could do with those manacles on. They had given him a sedative shot, but it had yet to take affect and Kitsune wasn't exactly cooperating with the teacher.

Sighing, Kakashi turned his attention to the three siblings leaning against the wall across from him. Only the one dressed in black with purple tattoos down his face had taken his weapon off his back, setting it down gently. Kakashi looked at it with some interest as the whole thing was covered in white bindings, but he couldn't make out exactly what its use was. The blonde's weapon of choice was easiest to identify as the large metal fan strapped to her back was hard to miss, but the red head's gourd shaped weapon was certainly the most mysterious. Kakashi knew quite a few things that could be kept in such a container, but there was no point in guessing, he'd just have to hope the youngest sibling would make it past the preliminaries so he could watch him fight.

"Thank you." He said, pushing away from the door jam. "For your help earlier, your sensei must be proud of your sharp tongue."

"He's not actually, he can't stand it." Temari grinned, "But it does come in handy."

"Hatake Kakashi." He said, nodding to the three.

"Subaku Gaara." The red head said, eyes narrowing as he subtly looked over the jounin before him. There was no doubt the man in front of him was strong, of course no one received the title of jounin without being strong, but there was a mysterious air about him that told Gaara to not even think about underestimating this man.

"Kankuro." The other nodded, smiling a bit.

"And you already know me." She grinned, pushing away from the wall. "And don't worry about us helping ya earlier. I can't stand it when I see a village abusing some kid."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, not missing how Gaara tensed at that statement. Cocking his head, he sighed and leaned back against the wall, "You carry Subaku, correct?"

Gaara snorted, not answering as he turned away from the jounin. Crossing his arms over his chest, he began walking down the halls, only stopping when his siblings hesitated to follow him.

"Well, we're leaving now. So, see ya around." Temari grinned, turning to saunter down the hall after her little brother, Kankuro giving a similar response before joining them, his weapon swung over his shoulder.

Kakashi scratched his head, "That was interesting."

"Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura asked timidly, hands clasped behind her back, "is it true that he's the container for the Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

Looking over her head at the blonde finally slumbering, he nodded. "He is."

"Why didn't anyone ever tell us?"

"It was law, no one who remembered the event were supposed to speak of it to the younger generations. The idea was to allow the next generation to accept Naruto as he was, but the hatred seemed to have passed on to them anyway.

"So, it was decided that with the excess population, we would send a handful of the ninjas who had families or who volunteered to go and some civilians who liked Naruto to start a new village somewhere west of here. But they were killed only a few days later and Naruto is the only survivor…or what's left of him at least."

"Hatake-san." Iruka said, his voice low as to not wake the drugged boy. "What are we going to do? How do we prove he's human if he can't even act it?"

"I…don't know." The jounin sighed, shaking his head. "We have to make him somehow understand that unless he learns to act like us, he'll die."

Dhampir

Page 8

Glossary:

Jouchu: Elder

* * *

Note: WOOOOOO! Two year hiatus, my goodness. I apologize to anyone who kept checking in on this story for the past two years.

I will say though that my other stories are going to remain incomplete (sorry, I'm just not interested in writing yaoi anymore)—I've just moved in a different direction and have lost interest in them. I'm mainly working on original stories now (it's what I started with and even though writing fan fiction is easier, I miss creating my own characters and such).

I will try to keep updating this one to the best of my ability, but a lot has happened in two years. I got married, ran into a bunch of medical problems, had a baby (who is almost one now!) and work full time. Plus I have a very clingy husband who wants to spend every single moment we have together…together.

But anyway, I'm hoping that I am back!


	17. UPDATE NOTE

**Just letting you guys know…**

**NEW CHAPTER COMING THIS FRIDAY!**

If there are any readers left…

Last month I started trying to do an in depth correction of a lot of the glaring errors in the story. I've tried to correct inconsistencies as well as spelling and to try and make the story flow better, so hopefully I've been able to do that with some success.

I do apologize for posting a chapter and then disappearing again, unfortunately, two months after I posted Chapter Sixteen, my daughter became very ill and since then, it's just been one thing after another and she's still very ill even though she's only 3.

So while I've been wanting to continue to write, it's been extremely stressful for the past two years and all my free time has been taken up with doctor and hospital visits, medication reviews, alternative medications, research about her illnesses and more doctors.

I swear, with how often we go to Johns Hopkins, we've probably paid for the new wing itself! I feel like we live there half the time…

But I digress, thank you for all of those who continued to wait, I'm sorry for the wait it took for me to continue writing this, but sometimes real life just gets in the way. Thank you for your support and I appreciate all of the reviews I've received thus far!

Because of the many reviews to Chapter 16, I'll go ahead and answer these now:

**Lady Laran:** Yes, I am over 18, but your review cut off so I'm not sure what place you're referring to. If it's adultfanfiction, I have posted there before, though not in recent years.

**Darkangelwings90:** Yes, I couldn't believe people were plagiarizing, I just don't get it, but unfortunately today's society seems to like shortcuts for everything…

**Samaiam13:** I feel Fanfiction has improved and is trying harder to help take down plagiarizers, so I do feel better about the site, thank you!

**ABitterPill:** You are so right, all we can do is be diligent and keep a look out for it happening. And you're also right that it's chased away a lot of very talented writers.

**HughesHanajimaHilariaHypocrite**: I haven't deleted it yet and hopefully won't!

**VescaWithoutWing:** Thank you for your support! I'd move to LJ, but I just can't stand it..I've never heard of Ygallery, so I'll check them out.

**Wade6127: **Aw, thank you!

**ShirealShi:** Thank you! It usually takes a lot to get me to stop doing something, but at the time, I was just so tired of *everything* going wrong—the formatting, the citations and the plagiarism on top of that was just so annoying, that I needed a break. I'll also check out SkyHawke, thanks!

**Mille Seseau: **Sorry, but whatever forum you posted didn't come through. Fanfiction doesn't allow links to be posted, so you have to spell them out. But thank you for your support and praise!

**Crazy Novelist-san: **If I do leave, yes, I'd post a link, I wouldn't just leave unless something major happened that never allowed me to return.

**Kimcat:** Oh, I have no problem with ideas coming from reading other stories. Many times, that's how other stories are created, but yes, verbatim is very different than gleaning an idea from another story. (Though I do think credit should be given where it is due and if you do create a story based off of another, you should cite it)

**The Mother Rose:** Well, it looks like while I was gone, they fixed the problem! Yay! I still don't know what the issue was, I just know it gave you this little 2" by 4" square to try and format in and then half the formats didn't work anyway, so annoying! And I agree with you, less is more I don't think I'll be writing lemon scenes anymore, I got very tired with them.

**Shadows and silhouettes:** He's not dead yet! :p

**Lifesucks90:** Yeah, that's something I wanted to improve on because his mood went from one extreme to the other, which even I found annoying. So hopefully it flows better now, it's more like Sasuke resents them, but at the same time is thankful for them—he's lived alone for 5 years and made his own rules, did his own thing and now he can't, but at the same time, he likes that someone is caring for him. So he's kind of at odds with himself.

**Lady Night Wind: ** Thank you for your support and praise, I appreciate it

**Blood Zephyr:** Yes, I have tried LJ and I really didn't like it, but it was quite a long time ago, so maybe it won't be so bad now.

**Kingof LoosePages:** If I ever did, I would certainly e-mail all those I could or post that is what I was doing, I wouldn't just leave, I promise, unless something major happened that allowed me to not return.

**DeepBlueInk:** I promise to do so!

**Julie:** Thanks for your review, it's definitely one of the reasons I did try to keep writing! And thank you for your praise, I hope I can live up to it!

**DrK Kitsune:** Yes, I plan for Sasuke and Kitsune/Naruto to become like brothers, Sasuke being the older brother since he obviously knows more.

**Riptocs:** Well, I haven't discontinued it yet I have my others though, I have lost interest in writing yaoi, but this one has continued to keep my interest and I do plan on finishing it (though when it ends…I have no idea)

**MoonlightRosalie:** Yes, I promise to let you know if I do move my stories to another site.

**Dark Blue Butterfly:** NOPE, I have no decided to discontinue it. Just some personal stuff that kept me from writing for the longest time.

**Ryo Hoshi:** Thank you! I'm hoping that I've corrected the spelling now, though I've found two variations…Kinouchi and Kunoichi and I can't remember which one I used. I'll have to double check that and see which is really correct and which one I used.

**Kimi No Koko:** I wish I could say I'm great, but honestly, not so much. My daughter's health issues are quite a lot, the main one is she is epileptic and suffers from a type of epilepsy that less than 1% suffer from. It's been very trying because it's a type that doesn't respond well to medications and the best one for it she's allergic to so…not sure where we stand right now… Thanks for looking in on me though! Sorry it took me…two years to respond…

**Jay:** Oh, I have something planned about the Council, no doubt there. And yes, usually the Hokage does make the final vote, but in this case, he's unconscious and thus, the Council seized the power and intends to use it however they see fit.

**Thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed, good or bad. The one unknown reviewer, I wish you would've read a little further and saw that I had corrected the –sama portion of it, but I'm sorry I didn't correct that sooner. **


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters (though Yamanato is my own creation)

**Note:** THIS IS NOT NOR EVER WILL BE YAOI! It's also loosely based off of the _FireKeeper_ books by Jane Linskold.

**List of Names:**

**Scar-Nose-**Iruka  
**Silver Moon-**Kakashi  
**Raven-Hair-**Sasuke  
**Ill** **One-**Sakura  
**Masked Bird-**Hawk Anbu

**Through Fox's Eyes**  
_Chapter Seventeen_

It didn't take Sasuke long to decide where to search for the Hawk Anbu, his brother had once told him about where the Anbu used to go to relax after missions, probably thinking he would be too young to remember since he was already an Anbu by 13 and Sasuke was only 8 and it had been said in passing. But luckily for him, he did remember, even if he had to admit the information came from _Itachi._

Standing on the rooftop of a store, he surveyed the plain looking building that was tucked between two large buildings. If he hadn't been told about it, he was sure he would've passed by it many a time for it blended in perfectly with its surroundings along with the front entrance only being 4 feet wide, it looked more like a window than a door. Of course, that would be expected of an elite lounge for the elite of the shinobi.

Sliding down the roof of the storefront, he jumped at the edge to deftly land on the building next to the lounge to assess for traps before proceeding. Searching the rooftop, he saw nothing of concern and began looking for the best way to access the lounge, from this vantage point, it looked as if his best bets would be the skylight—most likely sealed shut—the air vent or the front door.

Eyes calculating, he walked carefully around the skylight, making sure to stay out of sight, and then did the same with the air vent. The skylight was sealed like he thought and so unless he wanted to break in and have a handful of Anbu mad at him, it was out. The air vent was going to be a tight squeeze, but he could do it, and it was going to have to work since it wasn't like he could just walk through the front door. Using a kunai knife to embed a rope into the roof, he began checking the rope's strength when something across the street caught his eye. Eyes lighting up, he couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he jumped to the street below and made a beeline for the children's shop on the corner.

He couldn't believe it worked and yet he had passed by the guards without a second glance, their cockiness would be their downfall. While the mask wasn't up to Anbu standards, it obviously passed as long as he remained inconspicuous, the wolf mask he had chosen was a common one normally seen as children sparred in the streets. Barely anyone looked his way, a few nodding in his direction, but no one approached him or called him out as an imposter. He searched the room for his target and found the man sagging into a couch in the corner of the room. Surprise flashed before his eyes as he recognized the Hawk Anbu to be someone from the Nara clan, though not of the main family, but still a very talented shinobi who was only 8 or 9 years older than him.

Striding across the room, he stopped before Yamanato and waited until the man acknowledged him.

Lifting his head from the back of the couch Yamanato looked at him, slowly taking the cigarette out of his mouth and blowing smoke in Sasuke's direction "What?"

"You're needed. Follow me."

His eyes narrowed, the Anbu before him raising his suspicion. "I don't recognize you, who are you?"

Sasuke closed his eyes briefly, activating his Sharingan for him to see and then took a step closer to the man, whispering, "I don't think you want anyone else to know your little _lounge_ has been compromised."

Anger contorted his features and Yamanato quickly grabbed his mask with one hand and Sasuke's wrist with the other and dragged the genin out of the lounge, ignoring the curious looks being thrown their way. Before they stepped out, Yamanato slammed the mask over his face and quickly dragged the young Uchiha several streets down the road before slamming him into the closest wall and ripping the wolf mask off.

"_How_ did you find me?"

Sasuke just smirked, which from the slight tick of his right eye was making the Nara very irate.

"How did you find me, _genin_?"

"A good shinobi never reveals his sources." Sasuke quoted, "Don't worry, I won't expose any of you, but you're needed immediately at my estate on behalf of Kakashi-sensei."

"Why?"

"Only you or the Hokage can remove the manacles and considering the Hokage's current condition, we need you. Now," he said, shoving the Anbu away, "follow me."

Sasuke watched the Hawk Anbu exit the room, manacles in hand. Leaned up against the wall straight across from the door, the Anbu had little choice but to acknowledge the young genin glaring at him from beneath black locks.

"Yes?" He growled, annoyed at having been pulled from the lounge that was supposed to be for Anbu only and their only safe haven. Not even all of the Anbu knew about it, just those that were deemed irrevocably loyal to the Hokage and Konoha. How exactly the boy was able to slip by the guards—let alone able to find the lounge in the first place—irked him to no end. But when the boy demanded he follow him to his house and remove the chakra draining manacles from the demon child (who should have been dead by now), he almost struck the boy across the face for insolence. The only thing that stopped him was he was Konoha's golden child, the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan and he would be facing the wrath of the Council if even one hair was injured on that head.

"Isn't it part of your oath as an Anbu to do the bidding of the Hokage only?"

"When the Hokage is within his right mind and sense, yes. But if the Hokage were to become incapacitated for any reason, then it would fall to the Hokage's successor. If none are available, then to the Council. As the Hokage is comatose and there is no successor…it is the Council we listen and report to."

"He did choose a successor."

"She is not here, it is unknown if she has accepted this or not, thus, we must work upon the basis that there is no successor."

"And what if the Council is corrupt?" Sasuke asked, pushing himself away from the wall and glaring up at the man. Damn his short stature of 4', he may be tall for his age, but it is hard to be intimidating when he was shorter than the person he was trying to intimidate.

"If the majority of the Anbu believe the Council is corrupt, then we are allowed to form a coup and overthrow them, but we do believe the Council is acting in the best interest of this village."

"How is killing an idiot in the best interest of the village?"

"The child might be an idiot, but the demon inside of him is certainly not." He sighed, readjusting his mask minutely, "It knows things, things that we do not even have the inkling about and it knows when to strike against its host."

"Then we should be able to learn a lot from the Kyuubi, yes?"

The Anbu snorted, "And how should we extract that information? The child cannot talk and if the Kyuubi comes forth, it certainly will not be willing to give up any information that may give it an edge."

Sasuke nodded, remembering how the Kyuubi knew that the blood red moon would boost its strength, something they had never heard of before. "How old is the Kyuubi?"

"The Kyuubi shows up throughout history, no one knows it's exact age. Many believe that the Kyuubi was created at the beginning of the world. So possibly a millennium old, or older. Now excuse me, I must be returning." He turned away and headed towards the stairs.

Sasuke's eyes lingered on the Anbu's back before shifting to the closed door to his left. "How is Naruto?"

"Unconscious." The man responded before disappearing.

Sasuke raked a hand through his hair and knocked lightly on the door before slipping into the room. He looked around the darkened room, the sparse furniture only highlighting the prone figure on the bed. Iruka sat at the head of the bed, stroking back sweaty blonde spikes while Kakashi stood by the window, a frown on his lips. Sasuke moved silently towards the bed, staring down at the small blonde who was twitching in his sleep. His wrists were wrapped in bandages and Sasuke could just see the thin layer of green seeping from the edges. "Aloe?" He murmured, glancing at Iruka for an explanation.

"His wrists were burned. Those restraints are made to keep the prisoner from using chakra. It can only drain chakra when the person uses it and if the person continues to try…then they start to burn from absorbing so much chakra." Iruka explained, a pained expression on his face.

"And because the Kyuubi doesn't feel Naruto's pain," Kakashi added, "it kept forcing chakra through Naruto's system. It was probably hoping to overload them…but instead they burned the skin almost to the bone."

"Almost? How did they burn that far anyway?" Sasuke asked, frowning down at the blonde, "Shouldn't the Kyuubi's power have healed the burns almost immediately?"

Iruka sighed, looking over at the young Uchiha before standing up and motioning them to leave the room. "We think the Kyuubi might have withheld that portion of its chakra to punish Naruto for fighting against it." He shut the door and headed down towards the kitchen to see if they had anything to eat, "It might be trying to cow him into submitting to it, we can only hope that Naruto understands enough to know he can never do that."

"Kakashi-sensei, about the Chunin Exams—" Sasuke started.

"Yes, yes, I know. We need three people to form a team to even think about entering. The other genin groups from the other villages are already starting to come to Konoha, the Chunin exams are supposed to start a week from tomorrow."

The raven stopped and gritted his teeth, "Are you telling me we can't enter?"

"Well…" Kakashi shrugged, "We don't have a third person and until we do…then we can't enter."

"I _need_ to become a Chunin, sensei, and I refuse to allow something as ridiculous as lacking a third genin to stop me. There must be someone who is willing to join our team."

Iruka shook his head, "Unfortunately Sasuke-kun, there is no one. We had a perfect number of genins this year and were able to easily split them into five group of three. Three is the requirement, four is the maximum, but there are no groups with four people this year."

"I have completed a B Class mission—something no other genin team has been able to do—I have successfully killed two people without help and Sakura and I have completed more missions than any other team in all of Konoha! And yet because Hikari _died_, I'm being told that we can't compete to become Chunins?" Sasuke asked, his voice rising with his ire.

"There's nothing we can do, Sasuke." Kakashi said, shrugging his shoulders. "There are rules that we must abide by and they will not allow us to allow exceptions for any reason. We can try again next year."

Eyes flashing red with the Sharingan, Sasuke punched the wall and stormed out of the house. Iruka made a move to follow the young boy, but Kakashi stopped him. "I'll follow him, but he needs to blow off some steam. You know his reasons for trying to rush into adulthood."

It took a full three days for Kitsune to wake up, three agonizing days where the blonde neither moved nor made a single noise. If it wasn't for the shallow breathing, they would've thought him dead. Yet as the sun reached its pinnacle on the third day, blue eyes opened and Kitsune rolled off the bed into a crouching stance. Teeth bared, he snarled at the empty room, turning in a full circle before feeling safe enough to pause and check over his body. Seeing the bandages, he tilted his head quizzically before bringing one wrist up to smell it. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the pungent odor emitting from the bandage and then hesitantly darted out his tongue to taste the green goop at the edges.

As the nasty taste spread across his tongue, Kitsune began shaking his head vigorously and quickly tried to get the taste out of his mouth by wiping his tongue on his arm—steadfastly avoiding the bandaged areas. He made a hacking noise before spitting on the ground and searching the room for water. Retreating into the bathroom, he headed towards the small watering hole before glancing around to see if any humans were around. For some reason they were very disgusted at the idea of drinking from the watering hole—especially Scar-Nose. He didn't fully understand how to use the sticks to get water, glaring at the empty basin and remembering how last time he tried it, the water burned him.

Certain he was alone, he lifted the lid (an ingenious idea in his mind, it kept the water clean) and shoved his face down into the bowl. Lapping at the water, he filled his mouth with water before shaking his head back and forth and spitting it back out. Repeating the process a few time, he finally sighed when he could no longer taste the icy bitterness of the green stuff and pushed the lever that brought new fresh water in before taking a few swallows of water. He then dunked his head as far into the water as he could and quickly threw his head back to allow the water to flow down his naked chest.

Shaking vigorously to get rid of any excess water, he stretched and let out a contented noise as his joints cracked with relief. He then removed the bandages and shoved his hands into the watering hole to rid them of the bitter green stuff. As he pulled his hands out, his eyes focused in on his scarred wrists and he tenderly touched his right wrist. The skin was red and splotchy as the newly formed skin tried to work around the scarred mess left by the manacles.

He remembered the horrid metal there and how it burned him until he could no longer focus on anything except the pain encircling his wrists. He didn't understand exactly what happened, but remembering Iruka-nii-san letting out a cry of pain made a guttural sound form in his throat. This was not a safe place for his family, they should not stay where it is dangerous and Kitsune decided that he needed to find them a new den. This one was compromised and if those hunters came back…who knew what damage they would do the next time they were found.

Sniffing the air, he cocked his head and frowned. Kitsune was able to easily decipher between the different odors, but all of them were old—Raven Hair's was the oldest, being overlaid by Silver Moon's scent and food. Scar-Nose's scent was the strongest, his scent overlaying everything else multiple times, but it was still weak due to the open window. He licked his lips as his stomach grumbled at the tantalizing smells of raw fish and rare-cooked meats awoke his hunger. They were hours (if not days) old, but Kitsune could still smell the lingering scents in the air and he almost let out a howl of despair when he smelled the pork ramen that had been brought into the room.

Yet despite the clattering noises he was sure he had made, no one had come into the room to check on him. Fear clenched his heart, though he was confused as to why being left alone caused such anxiety for him. He had lived many moons alone, why would it matter now if he was living alone again? But he knew he had become accustomed to the others. Den mates were fun and even though he liked to be alone sometimes—especially on the Hunt—he liked the others. He wanted the others.

Moving out of the room, he sniffed again and slipped down the stairs. Eyes darting around the open living room, he couldn't see any indication that anyone was in the house. No sounds, no new smells and all the lights were off. Kitsune slinked across the floor and stopped to sniff the floor and sofa, growling lowly when he picked up a few unknown scents.

They had come back! Jumping onto the couch, Kitsune searched it for any clues to who was here, but only one scent was slightly familiar to him. It was Masked Bird, the same man who had put the burning metal around his wrists. Kitsune absentmindedly rubbed his right wrist as he tried to figure out what to do. Raven Hair had saved his life and he was his superior. He couldn't just leave him; he had to at least try to save him from Masked Hawk and his den mates. He wouldn't abandon his family.

Nara Yamanato was exhausted. He had pulled a 12 hour shift watching the demon child and then when he finally had gotten to relax some, the Uchiha brat had dragged him back to the demon child, then he was called in to discuss what happened in the lounge, then the Council had sent his team on an urgent mission that lasted two day and finally he was getting to go home after a thorough debriefing. Trudging slowly towards his small house near the Nara complex, he allowed the serenity of the evening to surround him and calm him. Tilting his head back, he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, feeling the stress of the day leave him.

So relaxed, he hadn't heard the slight shifting of grass, nor the low growl that would've warned him of an impending attack. Instead, he wasn't prepared in the slightest to have something shove him through a nearby tree. Rolling with the attack, he reached into his satchel and armed himself while rolling to his feet and immediately canvasing the area.

Yet no one was there. Spinning around, he looked for anything out of place and yet he saw nothing. The road was clear and while there was forestation on either side, it was more a sparse smattering of trees than an actual forest, certainly nowhere to hide. Tufts of tall grass was scattered about, but again, it shouldn't be enough for someone to hide effectively behind.

"Come out, you coward!" He shouted, hoping the taunting would cause a slip up of some sort, but there was no abnormal movement and he couldn't sense any chakra. Whoever it was had a lot of patience and skill, if it hadn't been for him getting shoved _through_ a tree, he would've believed that his sleep deprived brain had played a trick on him.

A slight gust of wind was the only warning he had, but he quickly ducked as a yellow blur passed him, disappearing once more into the sparse surroundings. Twisting around, Yamanato stared once again at the serene landscape and pressed his lips into a thin line as he concentrated on every little movement around him.

And yet he found himself on the ground once again, the feeling of knives cutting into his back and he had to bite back a scream. He wouldn't give his enemy the chance to relish in his pain; he refused to be seen as weak before one who was obviously more skilled and stronger than himself, at least in his sleep deprived state. A swift kick to his side proved the point as it was followed by more knives digging into his side and being twisted.

He grabbed blindly for anything to grip onto and felt his hand enclose over a wrist. He quickly ripped that hand away from his side, the knives following, and threw the enemy with all his might. Stumbling to his feet, he quickly grabbed a special smoke ball from his satchel, one he had never needed to use before, and threw it to the ground. Bright yellow smoke began to billow into the air, floating high above him and he tried to use the smoke to hide himself until reinforcements could come.

Yet the growl that came from his left assured him that the smoke had in no way confused his enemy. Turning, his eyes widened as he saw the slight boy walking towards him with killing intent rolling off of him. He saw now that it hadn't been knives, but claw-like extensions forming from his fingertips and the boy, though lacking muscle and height, stood tall and walked with a deadly confidence towards him.

Was this the Kyuubi? _No,_ he thought awe-struck as the blonde stopped before him, those blue eyes glaring at him, _no, this is Naruto. _

"Where are they?" He growled, his voice throaty and rough, "Where is my family?"

Dhampir  
Page 8  
06/04/2013

**Yes, I know Anbu aren't supposed to know each other, but there are times they do (i.e. Kakashi recognizes his old teammate who was assigned to Team 7 briefly). While I'm sure not all of them know each other's names and have code names they use instead of their real names, I'm also sure at some point they would've had to have been recognized by others. And yes, there is no Lounge (that we know of) in the series, but I liked the idea of an elite place where the Anbu could relax some, of course their cockiness in being the best of the best allowed Sasuke to slip through.**

Hi again! How long of a ride this has been! I do truly apologize for the _long_ awaited continuation of this story. Unfortunately, two months after I posted my last chapter, my daughter became severely sick and she has continued to be severely sick. I'm quite sure we've paid for the newest wing of the John Hopkins Hospital to have been built with how often we are in and out of there.

I know a few people were curious and I don't mind sharing, so for anyone who was wondering… Right after my daughter turned two, she became very ill—constantly getting sick, weak, not eating, pale, vomiting and we kept being told she had bad cases of the stomach flu. By thankful accident, she received a concussion and was vomiting again, which is cause to go to the ER. They also stated she had a stomach flu with a minor concussion and sent us home, telling us to come back if she vomits again as she'd need IV fluids. Low and behold, 15 minutes after we were discharged, she began vomiting again and so off we went to the ER once more. Whenever an IV is given, they automatically do a blood count—hers came back so low they thought it must be wrong and did it again, same counts.

So we were transported to Johns Hopkins for treatment where we stayed for the week while they ran tests, gave her blood transfusions and finally diagnosed her with Transient Erythromblastopenia, which in English means: She stopped producing blood for a while. Normal counts for a child is 22 to 24 THOUSAND, she had 6,000. If it hadn't been for the concussion, she most likely would've been dead as she was practically "bleeding out" even though she wasn't losing blood anywhere. It took 4 months and two more transfusions before she started producing her own blood again, but because she stopped producing blood, it destroyed her immune system, meaning at 2 years old, she had to start from scratch and got sick _constantly_ and had to stay away from the majority of the population for months.

**Enter in Problem Two:** Epilepsy. We thought the jerking was from the low blood, but after that was done and over with, she kept jerking. The doctor said she just had a twitch, but she'd also zone out and even clapping right next to her wouldn't do anything. Low and behold, she was diagnosed with Myoclonic Epilepsy, a rare form that affects about 5% of all epileptics. While myoclonic seizures are seen in almost all epileptics, it's rare to have Myoclonic Epilepsy.

We've been trying to treat this for the past year now with little luck, which is because her epilepsy evolved into Myoclonic-Astatic Epilepsy—a very rare form that affects 1% or less of all epileptics (epilepsy in itself affects 1 to 2% of the entire population) and doesn't respond to medication most of the time. Right now, she has myoclonic (jerks), absence (zones out) and drop (falls to the ground randomly) seizures even though she's on medication. It also causes some form of brain damage in almost all cases from slight to severe and causes problems with coordination as the child gets older.

**Enter in Problem Three:** Kidney Reflux. This one is fun, fun, fun! In short: When she pees, it goes back into her kidneys, causing kidney damage. There's a slight chance it can fix itself, but most likely we are looking at surgery to fix this problem as well as run tests until it's fixed to check for kidney damage periodically. FUN!

And, of course, ALL of her doctors—hematologist, neurologist and urologist are at Hopkins. I'm thankful to be close to such a wonderful hospital, but it's been a stressful two years. Because of this, I had to stop writing for a long time, all of my extra time was taken up caring for her, shuffling her to weekly and bi-weekly doctor visits, hospital stays and more. Oh, and having another baby, who also ended up hospitalized for a week, thought to also need surgery, but thankfully did NOT. ^_^

I'm going to try my best to continue this story because I truly want to, I like writing this story, it's a challenge and while many of the characters are known, it's fun to be able to write some of the characters in my own way. I do think I need to do some "cleaning up" though as I've had some glaring things pointed out to me. Unfortunately because I wasn't sure _where_ this story was going, I had moments of disjointed thoughts.

So here's my continuation, if there are any readers still out there!


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Naruto_ nor any of the characters.  
**Note:** Same as the previous chapter!

** Through Fox's Eyes**

_Chapter Eighteen_

"Family?" Yamanato spat, holding his injured side and trying to desperately slow the bleeding down. "What family?"

"Iruka-nii, Sasuke and Kakashi. Where are they?"

"How the hell should I know!" He exclaimed, taking a wheezing breath, "When I left the Uchiha brat's house, they were all there."

"Lair!" He growled, fists clenching as best they could with his claws. He stepped towards the Nara and easily shoved the Anbu to his knees. "Where are they?"

"I don't know."

Eyes flashing red, Naruto's face drew into a snarl and he raised his hand for the killing blow when he suddenly found himself unable to move. Roaring, he fought against the invisible barrier that kept him from moving, but nothing worked and slowly he found himself putting his arm down against his will and stepping back away from the injured Anbu.

"Nato! Are you okay?" Skikaku called though his focus never wavered from the blonde standing before his cousin.

"I will be." The man groused, slowly standing. He faltered, but another was there holding him up. Looking at his side, he smiled at the young Nara heir who was holding him steady. "Shikamaru."

"Let's get you out of here before more trouble comes your way." The young teen muttered, quickly moving his uncle[_1_]—in some fashion—away from the blonde and towards the Nara complex where a healer would be able to help him.

Shikaku watched the two leave out of the corner of his eye, his concentration still on the blonde who was still fighting against his Hiden. Once he was certain his son and cousin were a safe distance away, he brought his entire focus back to the situation at hand. "Who are you?" He demanded, looking at the half dressed boy before him, but he ignored the Nara Head. "Answer me, boy!"

Naruto concentrated on moving just one limb, all of his energy poured into turning his face to his attacker, but he found he could only move an inch at best. "My family, give them back!"

"Who is your family?" He asked, strengthening his jutsu as he felt the boy fighting against his control. No one had ever been able to break free of his Shadow Imitation Technique, but this boy was putting up quite a fight. He knew if he dropped enough of his concentration, this _child_ would break free of it.

"Iruka, Kakashi and Sasuke, _he_ took them!"

His brow furrowed as he pondered the boy's answer. Those three were well known to him, but certainly not related to each other or this boy, with his shock of blonde hair, in any way. "They are not here; I know this for a fact." Glancing at their joined shadows, he knew he had less than two minutes to diffuse this situation; otherwise there'd be a dilemma once the blonde was free.

The boy, though scrawny, had power considering he was able to injure his cousin who was a highly skilled ninja and Anbu. "Where are they?" The blonde growled, minutely moving as the jutsu weakened slightly.

"We will find them. If you promise not to attack, I swear we will find them." He said, "Will you promise not to attack?"

The silence stretched as Shikaku counted down the seconds before his Hiden would end and finally, the blonde answered just as their shadows separated, "I promise, but you find them or," he turned to the Nara head, eyes deadly serious, "I will kill you."

Nodding sagely, Shikaku gestured for the blonde to follow him to the Nara complex, "Follow me to my home and I will send someone immediately to find you family." While he believed he could take on the blonde, it did worry him that alone the boy was able to defeat Yamanato, there was no doubt in his mind that his cousin would be dead if they had come a few minutes later. With his other clansmen there to rely on, he believed they could certainly defeat him, though something within him told him it could possibly be a difficult match.

Blue eyes calculating, Naruto followed the Nara Head to the main road and towards a sprawling complex of houses and training yards. He kept his senses open for any ambush attacks by the enemy, but he scented no lies coming from them. Either they were expert liars or they were telling the truth, but then where was his family? Maybe he was wrong? Had he been too hasty? It was true the scents were stronger of his family than the enemy, but then it could've just been that his family's scents were stronger there… For now, his only choice was to trust the man walking beside him. He hesitantly stepped into the complex, immediately eying all the exits he could find in case he needed to run.

"Shikamaru!" The man called and a brown haired boy around his age appeared from within the main house. "You need to find Hatake Kakashi or Umino Iruka immediately and tell them that they are urgently needed here."

"Who is he?" Shikamaru asked, uncertain of why his father hadn't either killed the ninja or apprehended him yet. Who was this boy who had bested his uncle and yet stood freely beside his father?

"Don't question, I gave you an order, now go!" Shikaku ordered. His son narrowed his eyes at the blonde, but did his father's bidding and quickly made his way towards town. Yamanato had been stabilized, but his wounds were severe, something hadn't just cut, but jaggedly shredded his side and he didn't understand what because it was obvious the blonde carried no weapons from what he could see.

He hadn't missed the blood on the boy's hands either, so it must've been some kind of ninjutsu, though he hadn't ever seen one that did damage like that. It certainly could exist though, but he had only ever seen that kind of damage done to the deer unlucky enough to die at the hands of a clawed beast. Did the blonde have a familiar like Akamaru?

Stepping into the market, he scanned the mass of people moving about. He knew he wouldn't be able to find Kakashi easily, but he knew his old teacher's habits and usually about this time, he'd be here gathering ingredients for supper. He remained where he was, knowing the more he moved around, the more likely it would be that he'd pass the scarred man instead of finding him.

After a few minutes of searching, he spotted him. "Iruka-san!" He called, making his way over to where the chunin stood beside the butcher. "Iruka-san, you need to come with me."

The teacher turned around at his name and frowned at his ex-student who was moving faster than he'd ever seen him before. The boy was a genius, but lazy to a fault and so seeing him move at a fast walk was surprising. "Shikamaru? What's wrong?"

"I'll explain on the way, but we must go now." He said, grabbing the older man's arm and pulling him towards his home.

"What? Where are we going?" He asked, shouldering the few groceries he had picked up and quickly following the genin.

"The Nara complex, we need to hurry."

"Of course, but can you tell me why?" Iruka questioned, quickening his pace as they headed to the Nara complex.

"A ninja appeared and injured one of our clansmen, Father sent me to fetch you or Hatake-san."

"I'll help you in any way I can," he said, confusion evident in his voice as to why he would be called, "but I'm sure Kakashi-san would be better suited since he is a jonin. I'm not sure what I can do to help that your own clansmen cannot, Shikamaru-kun."

"I'm honestly not sure either, Iruka-sensei, but my father requested either you or Hatake-san by name and while I know Hatake-san may be the more apt choice, I knew where to find you."

Within minutes, they arrived at the Nara complex and while Iruka hadn't the slightest idea of what to expect, seeing his young charge surrounded by shinobi who looked ready to attack certainly wasn't even one of the possibilities he had thought of. Dropping his groceries, he quickly assessed the situation as best he could—no one had moved yet, but tensions were high between the Nara clan and the blonde.

Looking between Kitsune and the other shinobi, he was surprised that instead of cowering or trying to escape from them, the blonde stood tall in their midst, his back taunt and body ready to strike if necessary. The scared fox he would've expected was nowhere to be seen and Iruka feared the worst, that the Kyuubi had once again taken over. If this was the Kyuubi's work, there would be no saving Naruto now.

"Naruto?" Iruka asked, his voice calm as he took a hesitant step towards his charge, his hand slipping into his pouch in case he needed a weapon. A few shinobi stepped back to allow the scarred chunin to approach.

The blonde turned towards him, a smile blossoming on his lips when he saw his guardian. "Iruka-nii! You're okay!"

His eyes widened, this wasn't Kyuubi nor was it Kitsune! "Naruto? You're…you?"

"Where are Kakashi and Sasuke?" He asked, ignoring Iruka's question. "Are they okay?"

"They're fine; they're training with Sakura today, but…how…? When…?" He stuttered, gesturing towards him.

Naruto's shoulders sagged with relief. "I thought you all had been taken." Then he just went blank, his eyes lost their luster, his muscles relaxed and all expression left his face.

Iruka approached the blonde, grabbing his shoulders as the boy slumped against him, "Naruto!"

With a shake of his head, light filtered into those blue eyes again, but they were different. The recognition had faded some and that intelligence shifted into simple innocence, Kitsune was back. His eyes widened as he took in everything around him, fear evident on his face at all the unknown people surrounding him. He pushed away from Iruka without even looking to see who was holding him and fell into a crouch, turning in all directions as he searched for an escape.

"Kitsune?" Iruka asked gently, his voice low and steady. "Come here, its okay." He crooned and the blonde immediately honed in on his voice, whirling around before running to him.

Tackling the older man to the ground, Kitsune looked him over for any injuries as the Nara shinobi all drew their weapons. "Iruka-nii okay?"

"Don't!" Iruka shouted, holding up his hand to shield the blonde. The Nara clan members slowly lowered their weapons as Iruka smiled at the little fox. "I'm okay, Kitsune, I'm not hurt."

"Sasuke? Kakakashi?" He asked, looking around the training yard for his other den mates.

"Not here, but they're okay. I promise."

Kitsune's face scrunched as he puzzled over the word. "What promise?"

"If I may…" Shikaku said, hesitantly approaching the two. He had been watching the scene unfold, uncertain of what exactly had transpired to cause the strong shinobi who had stood before him to become this innocent, skittish creature crouching before him now. "I believe an explanation is in order."

Kitsune narrowed his eyes at the man and slid off Iruka, growling deeply to warn off the stranger while his muscles tensed to attack and protect Scar-Nose.

"Its okay, Kitsune." Iruka soothed, patting the blonde on the head as he stood up. Dusting off his clothes, he bowed deeply to Shikaku, saying "Forgive our intrusion, Nara-sama". He gestured to Kitsune to do the same, but the blonde refused to take his eyes off the man long enough to do so. "Kitsune!" He reprimanded, but the blonde remained steadfast.

"It does not matter." Shikaku said, waving his hand at the formalities. "Come and sit with me Umino-san so that we may discuss this. Would you like some tea?"

"That would be lovely." Iruka said with a smile. He grabbed Kitsune's hand and followed the Nara head into the house, noting that Shikamaru and two other clansmen were flanking them. Following Shikaku down a long hallway, he stopped short when Kitsune suddenly dug his feet into the floor.

The blonde was staring at the door to his right, his eyes narrowed in anger. Growling, he tugged against Iruka's hand, but the older man held fast and wouldn't let him go. Snarling, he pointed at the door and said "Bad man! Kill!"

"Bad man? Why?" Iruka asked, wondering just who was on the other side of the door. "What did the man do, Kitsune?"

By now, Shikaku had noticed his guests had stopped following him and turned to see why. That killing intent was back, but it felt different, more wild than before, and he watched as the chunin tried to understand the young boy. It was certainly confusing, not 15 minutes ago, the blonde was speaking coherently and with intelligence, but now he was stumbling over words and limited in his vocabulary. Glancing at his son, he could see Shikamaru had noticed the same.

Kitsune shifted, uncertain of the words he needed and finally held up his scarred wrist to Iruka. "Bad man."

Recognition dawned as Iruka pieced together what must've happened. It was obvious the blonde could scent the Hawk Anbu who had both placed and removed the manacles from his wrists and Naruto had said he thought they had been taken and had injured a clansman from the Nara household. "Did you think the bad man took us?"

He nodded once, growling again as he stared back at the door. That man was a threat and while normally he would avoid those creatures stronger than him, this one had been injured and was weak. While he was a threat to his family, he wasn't a threat now and it would be the best time to remove the threat. "Kill." He rumbled, pulling against Iruka's grip once more.

"No, no kill."

Surprised eyes flicked up to Iruka. Didn't he understand that this man could be a threat if they didn't kill him now? "No?"

"No, no kill, Kitsune." Iruka quickly pulled the blonde down the hall and away from the injured man's room. "Please, let's continue." He said to Shikaku, hoping he could control Kitsune long enough to keep the blonde from breaking free and killing the man. While he was better about listening, it wasn't a guarantee he would listen if he perceived someone as a threat.

Nodding, Shikaku continued down the hall and opened a door to the right. "Please, sit down as I call for some tea. Does…Kitsune? Does the boy drink?"

"No, he dislikes anything that isn't water, Nara-sama."

"Please, drop the formalities and call me Shikaku."

Nodding his head in acquiescence, he glanced over to where Kitsune was pacing, small growls and snarls coming from the blonde fox. "Kitsune?" He asked, but he was ignored, the blonde obviously was immersed in whatever was going through his mind, which worried him. He watched as Kitsune sniffed the ground, a snarl on his lips and he growled menacingly in the direction of the hallway. "Oh no…"

"Is something wrong, Iruka-san? May I call you that?" Shikaku asked, returning with an older woman holding a tea tray along with his son Shikamaru.

"Certainly and ah…yes, I believe there may be. May I ask if the person Naruto injured has been in this room? Especially recently?"

Shikaku thought for a moment before nodding, "Yes, most likely as this is a commonly used room."

"Is there an area that this person has not been within the last…6 months? Longer, if possible?"

"There may be, but why is this knowledge necessary?"

"Eh…" Iruka began nervously, "Well, you see, Kitsune's sense of smell is very sensitive and because he sees this person as a threat, he won't calm down if he can smell the person."

"Ah." The Nara head looked at the blonde who was continuing to pace along the edge of the room, "Shikamaru."

Shikamaru looked up from studying the blonde, already aware of what his father wanted and sighed,_ why am I stuck being a babysitter?_ "Should I take him to the west or the north forest?"

Chuckling, Shikaku shook his head, but gestured to his son, "Either is fine."

Iruka smiled at the two, they were so alike and it was impossible to mistake Shikamaru for anyone else's son. Looking over to his own 'son', his smile faded into a sad expression as he thought about what could've been and what was now. Yet at least he had him back in some shape or form. "Kitsune," he called, louder this time and the blonde immediately looked towards him, alert to any kind of attack from the Naras. "Come here, Kitsune."

Kitsune fell to a crouch and slowly crawled towards Iruka, his eyes trained on the two Naras who were watching him with avid curiosity. "Go now?" He asked.

"Kitsune," Iruka said, motioning to Shikamaru to come closer, "This is Shikamaru, he's a friend. Remember friend?"

Blue eyes assessed the boy warily, "Friend?"

"Yes, Shikamaru is our friend. I want you to go with him for a little bit."

"L-little bit?"

"Ah…Go with Shikamaru until the sun is this low." He said, holding up his hands, finger point to palm, to convey two hands high. "Then Kitsune comes back to Iruka, hai?"

Kitsune frowned, but he trusted Scar-Nose and _he_ trusted Porcupine Head, so Kitsune would trust Porcupine Head as well. "Go Shika, come back Iruka."

"Hai."

Shikamaru stood and gestured for the blonde to follow him, glancing once more at his father and double checking his weapons in case anything went wrong before the two of them headed towards the woods. _This is so bothersome…_

"Now," Shikaku said, taking his tea from the servant, "an explanation please? Because at this point, things are not looking well for this unknown nin. Not only did he attack a nin of Konoha, but he also did it upon Nara property."

Iruka cringed, "It's a complicated case, but let me start with this: Do you remember Uzumaki Naruto?"

Shikamaru led the blonde boy to the west forest, watching him carefully as the slipped through the trees and the brush, but where Shikamaru was graceful in the forest, Kitsune _breathed_ the forest. The blonde effortlessly blended into the surroundings, barely making a noise even though they were walking on fallen leaves and broken sticks. Passing by a river, he was shocked to see the blonde dip down to the water's edge like an animal and lap at the water to quench his thirst. He then proceeded to jump into the stream and splash around, leisurely chasing the small fish.

"Kitsune?" He asked, catching the blonde's attention. He was amazed at how quickly the distrust and hostility had disappeared as soon as Iruka had said he was a friend. The blonde was extremely trustworthy, _but deadly_, he thought, remembering the damage dealt to Yamanato.

"S-Shika…Shika…" Kitsune thought, but couldn't remember the rest of Porcupine Head's name. "Shika!"

Shrugging, the Nara heir couldn't help but smile at the blonde's innocence and antics. "Come, follow me." He pointed to where there was a small clearing that would be perfect for what he wanted. He knew the blonde had to be a skilled ninja, but looking at the boy before him, he just couldn't believe it. Who he had met during the fight was not who was shaking off excess water before him now, it just seemed impossible to believe they were one in the same.

Kitsune followed his new friend into the clearing, sniffing around at his surroundings and feeling the urge within him to hunt. Deer had been there recently, but from the scent, they were long gone from this area. The grass was knee high and he was sure it was full of rabbits, which may be a challenge in the tall grass, but looking to his new friend, it didn't look like he was looking to hunt. Scar-Nose had explained to him friends to be like den mates who didn't live with you and Scar-Nose said Porcupine Head was his friend like Ill One and White Eyes.

"Do you spar?" Shikamaru asked, but Kitsune stared at him blankly. Thinking back to how Iruka spoke to the blonde, it was apparent that his grasp of language was low, but he could've sworn that he spoke and understood clearly before… "Play?" He asked, doing a few punches and kicks with a smile on his face to make sure the blonde didn't think he was attacking him.

Those blue eyes lit up as Kitsune nodded vigorously before leaping and tackling the boy to the ground. Yet when he hit the ground, Kitsune suddenly found himself sitting on top of a rock. Yelping, he scrambled back and stared in shock at his friend. Scar-Nose would kill him for somehow turning his friend into a rock!

"You missed me!" Shikamaru yelled, laughter evident at the blonde's horrified expression as he stared at the rock. Whirling around, the blonde let out a yip of surprise, looking back and forth between the rock and the Nara. "So you don't know what Substitution Technique is…"

Kitsune frowned at the words, something about them was familiar, but it made his head hurt. He remembered Silver Moon had done something similar, but he still didn't understand it. Instead, he approached Porcupine Head and started sniffing him all over, circling around him to make sure it was his friend. "What?" He asked, pointing from him to the rock.

"Substitution Technique, its ninjutsu."

Kitsune squinted his eyes as his head throbbed, but he didn't understand what it was that made it hurt like this. Whenever there were things that seemed somewhat familiar like this, his head would begin to hurt, even now, sometimes being around Scar-Nose caused this to happen. Holding his head, he shook it to try and relieve the pressure that he felt building and tried to focus on his new friend again. "No…"

"Can you make a bunshin?" Shikamaru asked, slowly making the hand seals—_Ram, Snake, Tiger_—and next to him a copy of himself appeared, causing the blonde to jump back in surprise.

He sniffed the air, ignoring the throbbing in his head, and immediately derived that one was real and one was not, though he didn't understand _how_ there were two standing before him.

Dispelling it, Shikamaru gestured for the blonde to come closer. "Watch what I do." He slowly made the hand seals for Ram, Snake and Tiger, watching as the blonde focused on them and something akin to recognition appeared in his eyes.

Kitsune carefully began copying them, but once he made the Tiger seal, he added a forth seal so quickly that Shikamaru didn't catch it and there was a burst of chakra that almost knocked him down, but suddenly standing before him were 4 other Kitsunes. The five Kitsunes looked at each other and began yipping and yapping at each other, smelling each other all over and talking in their own language all while Shikamaru stood there shell-shocked.

These weren't shadow clones, these were _copies_, he could sense the chakra in all of them, though it didn't feel like much, but obviously this ninja had enough chakra and skill to make four copies of himself, though how was beyond him.

Back at the Nara complex, Iruka had finished his tale and was allowing the Nara Head to take it all in when they felt the burst of chakra coming from the west. Both were immediately on their feet and moving towards the entrance of the house while other members were animatedly talking about the chakra surge.

"Shikamaru!" Shikaku said in a horrified voice, rushing in the direction of where his son and the unstable blonde were located, Iruka right on his heels.

Dhampir  
Page 10  
7/2/13

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Ha! How many of you thought you wouldn't see me again for MONTHS? And look at that, I updated again and it hasn't even been a full month!

Happy early Independence Day for all my American friends and Happy Update Day for all my other friends ^_^

30 reviews for one chapter, thank you all so much! I am honestly amazed that I still have readers after such a long hiatus. I wonder if we can break 1,000 reviews by Chapter 20….

Onto the Reviews:

**Xyvortex:** Thank you so much, I appreciate it. Please let me know if there's any inconsistencies you can find, I hope I can continue to live up to your expectations as a writer.

**Simpleinsanity: **I certainly hope you've caught up now that there's a new chapter ^_^

**T.O.C.A: **Thank you, I hope to continue it as far as I can. I'm not sure how far that will be, but I do have plans….

**Bluekitsune251:** Thank you for continuing to be a reader ^_^

**Ryo_Hoshi:** Yes, it certainly is! And thank you, I hope it continues to live up to your expectations.

**KimCat:** This is definitely one of the reasons I am so happy to have government insurance as my husband and I work for the government. I cannot even fathom having to pay this out of pocket.

**SullenFaythe:** Oh…something will happen to them ^_^ And I didn't want Kiba's family to get involved just yet because I didn't want Kiba to be too familiar with Naruto for what will happen in the future. I know, cryptic, right?

**Sblck:** I can't guarantee it'll always be this quick, but I'll try to update once a month.

Quick update on my daughter:

They're changing her medications, so not sure what this is going to entail. She's on two, they're adding a third for her epilepsy and they've also changed her dosage of antibiotic for her kidney reflux because she's gotten two more UTIs while, if neither of these work, then we're looking at the Ketogenic Diet and surgery.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto and I only partly own the story idea since I gleaned from Through Wolf's Eyes.

* * *

**Through Fox's** Eyes  
_Chapter Nineteen_

Shikaku had never felt such fear in his heart as he rushed through the forest; he never should've left his son with the deranged blonde, no matter how skilled a genin his son may be. Of course, he also hadn't known at the time that he was sending his son off with the _Kyuubi_, had he known that, he never would've let the blonde live in the first place.

Iruka stumbled on a branch, trying to keep up with the jonin's breakneck pace; he needed to be there in case he had to stop the Nara head from killing Naruto. That decision was only up to the Hokage, but depending on what they arrived to, there was very little he could do against a skilled jonin like Shikaku. Once more, he wished Kakashi was here to help, but he was on his own.

He could see a few other of the Nara branch family following behind them, rushing to the aide of their clan's heir. Iruka sent up a quick prayer to God that it wasn't the Kyuubi and no one was seriously hurt as they approached the clearing where the chakra surge had come from.

Tearing through the trees to the clearing, the two nins immediately assessed the situation, both searching for their own son. Shikamaru was standing near the middle of the field with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face as he amusingly watched something a few feet in front of him. Nothing in his demeanor gave the impression that he had been attacked or was expecting an attack; instead he looked relaxed and carefree at whatever was amusing him.

"Shikamaru!" His father shouted, crossing the field to stand by his son with two others flanking him, weapons drawn and ready for any attack. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes at the overreaction, if there was any threat, he wouldn't just be standing there.

At the sound of another voice, Kitsune and his clones stopped roughhousing and popped their heads over the grass, shocking the four nins who stared at the _five_ pairs of eyes. As soon as Kitsune saw Iruka, the five of them barreled towards him, jumping about the grass to keep a visual on him, and tackled him to the ground with happy yips. "Iruka-nii!" A chorus of voices exclaimed as Iruka stared disbelievingly at them.

"Kitsune…s?" He slowly questioned as they surrounded him.

Shikaku watched as the five shoved each other to get closer to Iruka and his eyes widened in shock. "Impossible! That's a B-ranking jonin jutsu! There's no way he should be able to do that, _how_ did he do it?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "I showed him the signs to make a bunshin and he copied them, but then added a fourth seal. Considering he can't talk, it's too troublesome to figure out how he knew it."

"I can answer that," Iruka said, laughing as he pushed the Kitsunes away from him. "Okay, okay, let me up!" He was giddy with excitement at not only seeing that Kitsune had remembered something that Naruto had learned years past, but also that he had effectively used his chakra—something they had been unable to get him to do. If he could repeat it, then that meant he could be listed as a genin even though he was more animal than human. If they could show his skill as a ninja, he could become irreplaceable to Konoha and solidify his place in their lives.

Standing up, Iruka grinned at the Kitunes sitting at his feet and just shook his head at the perfect kage bunshins before him. It was impossible to distinguish which were the clones and which was the real Kitsune, he had replicated the jutsu impeccably. "Kitsune, can you do this?" He asked, making a cross with his hands.

Frowning, the Kitsunes all copied the sign and immediately four of them turned into smoke, making the real Kitsune jump in surprise. He searched around, smelling the ground and air, but his friends were gone, causing the blonde's jovial mood to morph into sadness. "Friend gone." He whispered, looking at Iruka with heartbreakingly wretched eyes.

"They can come back any time you make those hand signs again," he said, smiling at the blonde and making a sign with his hands to help Kitsune understand.

A smile lit up his face and immediately, the blonde made the hand signs again, so quickly that Iruka would've thought he hadn't moved except that four Kitsunes appeared again. Immediately, they piled up on each other, rolling around in the tall grass as they yipped and growled at each other.

Laughing, Iruka stepped back to watch the Kitsunes play and joined the other Nara ninjas. "I adopted Naruto when he was four from the Konoha Orphanage after there was an…incident. It wasn't easy, I was a two year genin who was trying to pass the Chunin Exam, but I refused to leave him there. Of course, because I was a genin, I was sent on missions just like any other nin. Whenever I had to leave for an extended period of time, Sandaime-sama would watch Naruto for me, the Hokage was quite fond of him and it wasn't odd to find Naruto in his office, even when I was home.

"I had become a Chunin that November and I found myself quite busy with missions and so the care of Naruto was mainly placed upon the Hokage. Two or three months before the caravan left, I had to go on a week-long mission and Sandaime-sama, like usual, offered to watch my ball of energy charge. While with him, Naruto spent a lot of time in his office and at one point, when Sandaime-sama stepped out to deal with an issue and left Naruto alone in the office, Naruto picked his way into Sandaime-sama's library. No one expected a little boy to know how to pick locks, let alone open a sealed scroll, but Naruto had. He had only read the first jutsu in the scroll, but was able to replicate the seals and suddenly found the room filled with little Narutos." Iruka chuckled, thinking back to the Sandaime recounting the tale to him. "Hokage-sama was obviously shocked, but thankful that Naruto had only gotten to the first jutsu and no further, not to the more dangerous ones."

"But he must've been…what, six?"

"Five actually." The chunin answered, watching as one of the Kitsunes came rushing back towards him with a dead rabbit. Another Kitsune tackled that one and stole the rabbit and suddenly a game of "keep away" began between the Kitsunes as they rushed to steal it from the other and bring it to Iruka.

"A jonin ranked jutsu at five years old…think of what he could've been now had he not been lost all this time." Shikaku said in awe.

Another Kitsune shoved the other roughly and the clone dissipated into air, the rabbit beginning to fall to the ground, but a third Kitsune leapt from the tall grass and snagged the rabbit in his mouth before making the cross sign with his hands. Three more puffs of smoke appeared as Kitsune came bounding towards Iruka, stopping at his feet and dropping the rabbit before him. "Dinner!" He crowed happily, stretching his sore muscles. That was the most fun he'd had in a long time.

"Uh…thank you Kitsune. I'll be sure to make a stew from it." He said, gingerly picking it up as he turned to Shikaku and bowed, "Nara-sama, I have a favor to ask you."

The Nara Head warily assessed the chunin and his charge, "Ask."

"I would like to list Naruto as a genin, but I know the Council will balk at the idea and with the Hokage still in a coma...I need a powerful family to back my decision."

"Don't you think this is a dangerous move? Teaching a feral child ninjutsu, especially one who carries the Kyuubi within him?" Shikaku questioned while he watched the blonde child playing with the swaying grass.

"I believe learning ninjutsu will help strengthen Kitsune against the Kyuubi, the more he learns about chakra and control of chakra, the more he'll be able to battle back the Kyuubi."

Stroking his chin, Shikaku nodded. "This is true, but teaching someone like him who only understands the rudimentary of our language will be difficult."

"We can only try." Iruka responded, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. Usually, it wasn't a problem signing a student in as a genin, but Kitsune was a special case, even Naruto would've been a special case. But the real problem was that the Hokage signed off on every ninja and with him in a coma, it was now up to the Council to approve each genin.

"He is talented, Father. Though the Kyuubi has shown to be strong, he has been able to overpower him time and time again, which shows his strength as well." Skikamaru chimed, already connecting that this blonde is who the other genins had been talking about a few days ago and the Kyuubi vessel. "And, correct me if I'm wrong, but making him a genin would allow Team 7 to enter into the Chunin Exams..."

"Chunin Exams? Don't be ridiculous!" The Nara Head exclaimed, but when he saw Iruka's somber expression, his eyes widened and mouth dropped, "You want to enter him in the Chunin Exams? This soon?"

"Sasuke and Sakura are ready and Kitsune is learning quickly," Iruka answered, hoping his lie regarding Kitsune wasn't obvious. "I mean, he's already remembered how to do Kage no Bunshin and you know how much skill that takes!"

"I trust you Iruka-san, but I have to admit, I'm not sure about this… My son and his team will also be entering into the Chunin Exams, I'm not sure I like the idea of the Kyuubi vessel being there as well."

"But—" Iruka began, but stopped when Shikaku held up his hand for silence.

"But I also trust my son's judgment and he believes your charge deserves a chance, therefore, the Nara Clan will support Uzumaki Naruto being promoted to genin. Whether or not he makes it to the Chunin Exam will be up to him and Hatake-san."

Iruka clapped his hands together and bowed deeply, "Thank you Nara-sama! Thank you, so much!"

"Just make sure he learns how to control the Kyuubi and that will be thanks enough."

"Yes, of course!" He beamed, "And thank you too Shikamaru-kun."

"Mah..." The young genin shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets and heading back towards the house. _I have a feeling that things aren't going to go as planned, _he thought as he gave one last at Kitsune over his shoulder.

* * *

Iruka could barely contain his excitement as he and Kitsune returned to the Uchiha Manor, Kitsune was going to become a ninja and he was therefore one step closer to becoming invaluable to Konoha. To celebrate, he was planning a large feast that everyone could enjoy—ramen for Kitsune and tempura for everyone else. Even though Sasuke would never say anything, Iruka noticed that he'd eat just a little more if they were having tempura and it was obviously a favorite food of his.

"Sasuke-kun? Kakashi-san?" He called, stepping into the darkened house. It had taken longer for them to get home because Kitsune was too busy playing with his clones that Iruka had to keep collecting him whenever he wandered off too far. He kept having Kitsune dispel them, but as soon as his back was turned, Kitsune would call them forth again, much to Iruka's chagrin. Though, he had to admit, he was truly surprised that he was able to keep making them considering how much chakra one needed to use to create shadow clones.

No one answered his call, but knowing those two, they were still out training and would be for quite a while more. Kitsune and his clones stepped into the house, sniffing carefully, a growl already in his throat at the Hawk Anbu's scent still lingering. "Kill."

"No, Kitsune, no kill." Iruka said firmly, glaring down at the fox child.

He continued to growl, his clones growling alongside him, but none of them moved.

"Enough clones, Kitsune, dispel them."

The killing intent disappeared in an instant as a pout formed on his lips and he turned large blue eyes on Iruka. "Kitsune want stay."

"No, Kitsune."

His bottom lip wobbled as those eyes got larger and tears collected at the corners. "Stay, Iru-nii?"

Rubbing the top of his head, Iruka sighed, "Aw hell…okay, but just for another hour!" The expression was gone that instant as the four Kitsunes cheered and began animatedly chattering between each other in a language he didn't understand. Mouth hanging open, Iruka just stared in shock as he saw he'd been played by a child, and a feral one at that! "That could be a jutsu itself…" He muttered, heading into the kitchen.

Kitsune stared at himself, still uncertain of how this worked. He copied the hand signs the weird humans liked to make and something in him supplied another sign, he had no idea what it was, but when he began, it just felt so natural to him that he found himself following along with the additional sign.

At first he had thought one of the humans was playing a joke on him, maybe surrounding him with those weird still water[1] things they hung on the wall, but when he sniffed the air and tackled the closest look-alike, he found it smelled and felt like him and could talk!

The look-alike growled and shoved at him, "Get off!"

"Yay! Is it play time?" Another chimed in, jumping on the two as he yipped at the others present.

Soon all five of them were jumping and rolling and talking with each other. Their smell was one, their looks were the same and they could speak to each other clearly, unlike when Kitsune tried to speak to the humans who didn't understand his simplistic growling and yips.

Of course, _he_ was the superior one since he could make the others disappear and not vice versa, but he was certainly happy to have his own kind around him. This would've been wonderful to have when he was living at his own den—though probably not big enough for all of them—he wouldn't have had to been alone all those moons and those times he was injured, someone could've helped him instead of finding himself starving and on the verge of death except for the fact that the demon inside him refused to let him die.

"Follow me." He growled, eyes bright, as he gestured to his friends to follow him upstairs. He wanted to show them his room where they could all sleep together, but the other Kitsunes were too busy looking around the house and shoving each other.

Losing his temper, he shoved the closest Kitsune to the ground and growled at the others threateningly, but of course, being copies of himself, they weren't intimidated at all and immediately turned to jump on him. Two bumped into each other and turned to fight amongst themselves with the other two—as he was sitting on the one—tackled him and rolled across the ground.

Skittering to a stop, Kitsune stooped to all fours and glared at his clones, a deep rumbling in his throat. "I am Alpha" he yipped, pointing to himself.

"No, I am!"

"I am Alpha!"

"No, me!"

"No you're not!"

A chorus of yips and growls filled the living room as the five Kitsunes began fighting amongst themselves about who was the leader of their look-alike pack. The one to his right suddenly sprinted towards him and Kitsune immediately locked grips with the blonde clone, which allowed for another to barrel towards him and knock full force into his chest.

He stopped himself from slamming into the wall just in time and used it to push off from as he went to attack the other. Something told him to just make them become smoke, but he refused to be beaten by himself and charged at the look-alike with an inhuman roar. Tackling the other Kitsune to the ground, he watched as the impact turned him into smoke and immediately turned on the other three, growling at them to submit.

They refused and the battle ensued of growling, leaping, claws and fangs. Two even scratched him—once in the face and once on the side—but in the end, he had defeated all four of them and crowed triumphantly at his victory.

"What is going on out here?" Scar-Nose asked, wiping his hands on a white cloth. He looked at Kitsune and then around the room for any others, but none could be found. The blonde, grinned and smacked his fist against his chest proudly, but Scar-Nose just stared at him with bewilderment. Finally, not seeing anything too damaged, he shrugged and disappeared back into the other room.

Kitsune rushed upstairs to his and Raven-Hair's room and created his clones again, immediately growling at them to submit to him. "Alpha."

The four pouted at him, but none attacked as they looked to each other and then to the original.

Kitsune nodded, happy that they were finally listening to him and then jumped on the bed, grinning at the four Kitsunes. Crouching low, he jumped as high as he could and flipped before landing softly on the bed again. The others' eyes lit up and soon all five of them were jumping and tumbling off the bed as they chatted about the humans and the moon and hunting.

* * *

By the time Kakashi and Sasuke walked in the door, Kitsune was long asleep, the chakra use finally catching up to him and he passed out hours ago on the sofa. "Yo!" Kakashi said, waving slightly as the two of them entered the kitchen.

Iruka smiled, though exhausted, and set down the dinners he had set aside for them. "It's cold by now, but I'm sure you two can put up with it, right?"

"Ha…" Sasuke said, sitting down at the table and quickly beginning to eat. Not only was he starving, but he was tired. Kakashi had been working with him after their team training to strengthen his Sharingan as well as learn how to master it, but it was tiring work.

"Aw, cold?" Kakashi whined, his visible eye drooping with sadness, but he too sat down and began eating. "So…Naruto's awake, neh?"

"Hai, he awoke today while we were all out. Kakashi-san, there are…things we must discuss later, so don't disappear." Iruka said before leaving the kitchen to attend to Kitsune. Picking the blonde up, he carried him upstairs and put him to bed in his own room, hoping the blonde was too tired to notice it wasn't Sasuke's room. Tucking the blonde in, he quietly shut the door and went back downstairs to find only Kakashi present. "Where did Sasuke go?"

"To bed."

"But he didn't ea…t." Iruka said, staring down at the empty plate on the table. "Well, that was quick."

Leaning back in his chair, Kakashi's expression became serious, "What is it that you wanted to discuss with me, Iruka-san?"

"Naruto."

"Is it ever anything else?" Kakashi sighed, "What is it this time?"

"I don't think you understand Kakashi-san, I'm talking about _Naruto_ not Kitsune. I saw _Naruto_ today ." Iruka answered, stressing the blonde's name.

That had the jonin sitting upright, his visible eye wide with shock. "_What?_"

"Hai, Naruto was there, just for a little while, but he _is_ still there, locked somewhere inside Kitsune, there was no doubt I was talking to him. And he was able to use a Jutsu! He was able to use his own chakra."

"When…did this happen?"

"Ah, well, there was some confusion and he…ah…attacked the Hawk Anbu, who was apparently of the Nara clan."

Kakashi didn't say anything, just sat there staring at Iruka and wondering if he was in some type of genjutsu. Was Sasuke practicing his Sharingan and playing a trick on him? No, that didn't seem to be Sasuke's style, but what Iruka was saying just seemed too impossible to be true. Pulling his hitai-ate up, he swept the room, trying to see through the genjutsu, but his eye confirmed that this was no trickery, Iruka was telling the truth.

Iruka narrowed his eyes at the jonin before smacking him in the head. "This isn't a trick, Kakashi!"

Putting his hands up in surrender, Kakashi smiled at the chunin and pulled his hitai-ate back down over his eye. "I think you might want to start at the beginning because this does sound…fanatical."

And so Iruka explained everything that had happened, explaining that he had pieced together that Kitsune had thought they had been taken by the same Anbu who had placed the chains on him and had tracked the Anbu all the way to the Nara Complex and had greatly injured him. That reminded him to make a mental note to check with Shikaku tomorrow to see how the Anbu was doing and hopefully the Nara Head could convince the Anbu not to seek revenge or report the attack to the Council, who would most definitely execute the blonde.

He continued his explanation well into the night and by the time he had finished, he felt exhausted. Looking to the jonin, he felt his anger rise as he realized the older man was _asleep. _"KAKASHI!"

"Itai!" Kakashi had been having a nice dream including women from his Paradise and it had just been getting good when a sudden pain blossomed from the back of his head and brought him back to the present. "Na, na…was that really necessary? I heard everything that you said!"

"Oh really?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Most of it anyway."

Sighing in defeat, Iruka shook his head and stood, "I shall retire now."

"Night, Iruka-san." Standing and stretching himself. He watched the chunin walk away when he called out to him. "You mentioned Naruto used his chakra…what did he do?"

Smirking, Iruka looked over his shoulder at the silver haired nin. "I'm sure you can see that tomorrow. Ja!"

* * *

Kakashi slowly awoke to his alarm, groaning as he slowly sat up and slid out of bed. Iruka's rule of everyone be up and ready for the day by seven—well, it was actually six, but it was just so _hard_ getting up—was brutal, especially considering how late they were up last night. Slowly, he showered, dressed and made his way out of his room, stretching and stifling a yawn as he went. At his door sat Kitsune, staring up at him with wide blue eyes and Kakashi patted him on the head as he passed, "Ohaiyou, Kitsune."

The blonde fox nodded his head and then wandered towards his own room, probably to eat some of his hidden food.

Heading down the stairs, he paused as he saw Kitsune jumping up and down on the sofa. Glancing behind him at the stairs, he scratched his head, _I must be more tired than I thought._ Shrugging, he stepped into the kitchen and paused again, Kitsune was sitting at the table with Iruka eating. Turning around, he looked at the couch, but no one was there, and turned back to the two sitting at the table.

"Ohaiyou, Kakashi-san." Iruka said, smirking at the suspicious jonin.

Something was up, there was no doubt. Iruka was smirking. "Ohaiyou…" He said slowly, looking around suspiciously. "Where's Sasuke?"

"He's training outside. Do you mind letting him know that breakfast is ready?" Iruka asked, his smirk widening to a grin.

Suspicion growing, Kakashi stepped towards the back door and opened it to reveal Sasuke and Kitsune sparring. "What…?" Quickly looking behind him, he made sure Kitsune was sitting beside Iruka, and then looked back to see Kitsune still sparring with Sasuke. "_Two_ Kitsunes?" He exclaimed loudly. At their name, the blondes stopped what they were doing and looked at Kakashi, cocking their heads at the silver nin.

"Ah…actually…" Iruka started as two more blonde foxes came rushing into the kitchen. "There's four."

"_FOUR?"_

Dhampir Page 9  
8-13-13

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And here is Chapter 19! 50 reviews away from 1,000! Woot! ^_^

Sorry for the delay, I wanted to get this out at the beginning of the month, but I just started a new job, so had to transfer everything over. So here it is! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I hope this chapter still lives up to your standards.

Let me know ^_^

-Dhampir


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